Honoring sacrfice: Sheriff's lieutenant tells of answering the call after 9/11

Sennet Wiggins remembers vividly the day that his life, his fellow soldiers’ lives and the entire country changed, which led to some of his comrades making the ultimate sacrifice for their country.
Wiggins, now a lieutenant with the St. Mary Parish Sheriff’s Office and an investigations division supervisor, enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in 2000 after graduating from Morgan City High School because he “wanted to do something righteous and respectable,” he said.
Wiggins was a guest speaker at Monday’s Memorial Day Remembrance ceremony at Cypress Park in Morgan City hosted by the St. Mary Chamber of Commerce and VFW Post 4222. Wiggins achieved the rank of corporal in the Marine Corps.
“I’m honored to be amongst so many great veterans and Americans,” Wiggins said. “I’m fortunate to be here today. See, we don’t all get to make it home.”
Americans have a duty to remember why Memorial Day exists and to educate others, Wiggins said. The rows and rows of “simple white markers” in Arlington National Cemetery show only a “tiny fraction of the price that has been paid for the country’s freedom,” Wiggins said. Each one of those markers is a monument to the heroes who died for the Americans’ freedom, he said.
On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Wiggins was stationed in Washington, D.C., and had just gotten off working an all-night security detail. He was sleeping when his phone started ringing, which he answered to hear his mother crying, he said.
Wiggins couldn’t understand most of what she was saying but understood she wanted him to turn on the TV, he said. Wiggins saw the World Trade Center Twin Towers falling and that sight changed the rest of his life and “changed America as we knew it,” Wiggins said.
“And ultimately it changed the fate of some of the brothers I was serving with,” Wiggins said. “Everybody was terrified. We weren’t expecting this.”
He could hear fighter jets from Andrews Air Force Base in the distance “as they took off and broke the sound barrier,” he said.
“We thought they were bombs going off in the city,” Wiggins said. At the time, Wiggins didn’t fully understand what was happening, but he remembers the events so clearly, he said.
After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the entire U.S. military focused on defeating Al Qaeda, Wiggins said.
On Sept. 6, 2004, Lance Cpl. Bret McCauley of Kokomo, Indiana, a fellow marine and “brother” Wiggins had the honor of serving with in Washington, D.C., and at Camp David in Thurmont, Maryland, was assigned to a patrol in the heart of an insurgency stronghold just north of Fallujah, Iraq, Wiggins said. McCauley was supposed to return home in one month, Wiggins said.
McCauley and his fellow marines climbed into the open bed of a supply truck when, suddenly, a car loaded with explosives slammed into the convoy. Ten of the 15 soldiers in the truck were killed instantly, including seven marines and three Iraqi national guardsmen, Wiggins said.
McCauley suffered severe head trauma, a fractured spine, internal injuries, a nearly severed left arm, numerous shrapnel wounds, third-degree burns and damage to his eyes and his ears, Wiggins said.
“Some of the young men paid the ultimate price and never made it home. They never returned home to get the chance to say goodbye, to get married, to become fathers or grandfathers,” Wiggins said.
These heroes never “faltered, hesitated or questioned their commitment to their country and to their brothers serving alongside them,” Wiggins said.
Nicholls State President Bruce Murphy also spoke during the ceremony. Murphy is a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel. Prior to his current position at Nicholls, Murphy was vice president for academic affairs at The Air University in Alabama. Murphy’s wife, Jeanne, is also an Army veteran who attained the rank of colonel before retiring.
Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is unique in “its clarity of purpose” to remember those soldiers who died serving the country, Murphy said. The day is about remembering the men and women “who placed themselves in harm’s way and made the ultimate sacrifice.”
In American history, direct combat deaths total 848,163 with an additional 338,792 other combat deaths from disease, accidents and friendly fire, Murphy said.
Murphy mentioned the heroic actions of several Louisiana soldiers who were killed in the line of duty. Among those heroes was U.S. Army Sgt. Leroy Johnson during World War II.
On Dec. 15, 1944, Johnson led a nine-man patrol sent to a spot in the Philippines held by “well-entrenched enemy forces,” Murphy said. The squad knocked out an enemy machine gun and began an assault when enemy troops threw several grenades, Murphy said. Johnson saw two unexploded grenades that had fallen near his men, Murphy said.
“Knowing that his comrades would be wounded or killed by the explosion, he deliberately threw himself on the grenades and received the full charge on his body,” Murphy said. Johnson died a short time later.
Nicholls State was recently awarded the distinction of “military friendly school” for the sixth straight year, an honor bestowed upon the top 15 percent for the best support to active military personnel and veterans, Murphy said.
“We must continue to provide high quality, affordable, accessible higher education for our veterans and active-duty service members. To do less would dishonor those who we honored today,” Murphy said.
Monday’s ceremony included a presentation of a memorial wreath in remembrance of soldiers missing in action and prisoners of war. Morgan City High School’s JROTC also participated with the presentation of colors. The East St. Mary Funeral Squad closed the ceremony at Cypress Park with a gun salute.
Following the ceremony at Cypress Park, a procession of community leaders and members of the public proceeded to the Fallen Warriors Memorial on the Morgan City Municipal Auditorium grounds led by a horse from the Atchafalaya Bit and Bridle Club. At the memorial, wreaths were placed to honor fallen military, fire, police and emergency medical service personnel.

This story was written by Zachary Fitzgerald of The Daily Review staff. Reach him at zfitzgerald@daily-review.com.