A day after September 11, the political race is again at full speed, as both campaigns exchanged harsh statements this morning over a new foreign-policy crisis, the death of an U.S. ambassador at the hands of a Libyan mob.

Yesterday in American Fork, U.S. flags were out, and many residents paused during the 11th anniversary of the terrorist attacks, in some ways appreciating a break from divisive politics, the kind of unification felt after the tragic events.

“I was impressed how close everyone became, creating a spirit of unity within our community and within the country,” said American Fork City Councilman Dale O. Gunther. “There were some positive things that came out of [the attacks] as they took away some of the divisive political things that occur in our nation. We became united, feeling sympathy and empathy to those who lost their lives — and some anger and righteous indignation towards the terrorists.”

On an overcast Tuesday, yesterday, as residents were getting ready for work and school, the American Fork Fire Department rang the siren at 6:46 a.m. and 7:03 a.m., the exact times (Mountain Time) when two airliners ripped through the building’s skin of the north and south World Trade Center towers, setting their upper floors ablaze.

The events continue to cast a long shadow, even 2000 miles away.

American Fork Fire Chief Kriss Garcia remembered his two firefighter friends who were in the towers when the towers collapsed. They were among the 343 firefighters and 23 police officers killed that day.

American Fork mayor James H. Hadfield’s son served in the Pentagon on Sept. 11, his office located on the outer ring of the wall that was hit by an American Airlines B-757.

“I was devastated. I recognized his office when I saw the news on TV, ” he said. “I called his wife to see what she knew. “She informed me that he was speaking at a conference in Fort Huachuca, Arizona, and I’ve never been more grateful since for divine intervention.”

American Fork citizens who were out of the country, like the many who were serving LDS missions on Sept. 11, 2001, felt a deep sense of love for their homeland. City Councilman Rob Shelton still remembers what it felt like to be “away from this great country, state and city” that day.

“I was serving an LDS mission in New Zealand, and as I walked out of the door that morning, there were a lot of street preachers from other religions in the common areas, and they were preaching hellfire and damnation, that the world was coming to an end, that America was finally getting was she deserved for all her corporate corruptions,” he said. “And I didn’t feel the protection that I had had when I was here in America.”

But when Mr. Shelton received a letter from the U.S. consulate requesting him to register his contact information in the event of an emergency evacuation, he felt even more appreciative.

“What a great country that even takes care of its citizens on foreign soil,” he said.

As American Fork remembered and honored its heroes yesterday, it recognized Councilman Gunther for his past military service in the National Guard’s 1457 Engineering Battalion, headquartered in Lehi, but also for his philanthropy, voluntarism and grant-making foundation he launched with his wife, the Launfal Foundation, which has helped those in need in Iraq, Afghanistan, Africa and, more recently, South and North Korea. The kits sent to North Korea, a country under dictatorship that has closed borders, are balloon-lifted from South Korea.

Yesterday, he accepted a certificate from the Boy Scouts, though he felt others should be honored and remembered. 

“I think there are many others who deserve it more than I,” he said.