Local U.S. Army Veteran Remembers 9/11, Military Response
Americans who were alive on September 11, 2001, will forever remember that terrible day in U.S. history. For one local U.S. Army veteran, she not only remembers what happened, but the nation’s military response afterward.
Retired Lt. Col. Tamara McLendon spent 22 years in the Army before being honorably discharged. That included more than one year in Afghanistan, where she was deployed after 9/11.
“Our freedom that we fight for was taken from us because we were now the targets on our own soil, where we were supposed to be comfortable, secure and safe,” she remembers.
We spoke with McLendon outside the Highway 80 Cafe in Lowndes County, where she now works. Like many military veterans, she has been diagnosed with PTSD.
“You have to value those lives that were lost, both foreign and domestic, friend and foe,” she said.
McLendon was featured in our Alabama News Network Price of Freedom series in 2020.
