OSHKOSH – Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, gave the following remarks in commemoration of the 15^thanniversary of 9/11:

“Those of us old enough all remember where we were when those planes hit the towers, the Pentagon and a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, 15 years ago because of Islamic terrorists intent on destroying Americans’ freedom and our very way of life. We all remember what we thought: 'This changes everything. The world will be different now.'

“Our memories of 9/11 are collective but also private. Some are sad and some are incredibly inspirational. I had the honor and privilege of going to Shanksville for a 9/11 memorial last year, and I will never forget the exhibit inside the new visitor center, where you can listen through telephone headsets to the voicemails of passengers on board United Flight 93. What’s extraordinary – although they’re not easy to listen to – is that the women leaving the voicemails are not conveying concern about themselves. They’re conveying concern about their loved ones. This is something quintessentially American. They would then join the other passengers of Flight 93, behind Todd Beamer’s iconic, ‘Let’s roll,’ in a decision to sacrifice themselves to make sure their plane wasn’t used as a weapon against their fellow citizens.

“These are just a few of the memories and the sacrifices we can never forget. Therefore, as we remember and reflect on the costs of 9/11, we must make today a day of commitment. We owe our children and grandchildren the opportunity to know the world we knew before 9/11 – a world that was freer. Where our freedom expands rather than retracts. Where there is less fear and travel is easier. Where we believe that although America is not perfect, she is a phenomenal force in the world for good.

“There are only two ways to end a war. Either both sides decide to live in peace and agree to lay down their arms -- or one side is defeated. Islamic terrorists are not laying down their arms. Look at Paris, Istanbul, Nice, San Bernardino, Brussels and Orlando. This threat is real and growing, and it must be defeated. 

“Today, let’s commit ourselves as individual citizens of Wisconsin, of America and of the civilized world to defeating this enemy that has changed our world so much, that has deprived us of our freedom, that will continue to deprive us of freedom until it is defeated.”