The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center were a special place to retired U.S. Air Force Col. David Lange.

Lange grew up on Long Island, graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy, and spent 34 years in the military.

Lange’s career took him far from his hometown of Great Neck, but whenever he was back in New York, he and his brother would spend a day in Manhattan, capped off by a visit to the World Trade Center’s observation deck.

In the 23 years since the World Trade Center was destroyed in a terrorist attack, Lange has marked the day by changing the photo on his Facebook page to an image of the towers. It took years before he could bring himself to visit Ground Zero.

“It always fills me with sadness, to be honest,” Lange said of the loss of the towers and the attacks that killed almost 3,000 people at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and in a field outside Shanksville, Pa.

Lange, a member of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2913 in Patchogue, was the keynote speaker at the Village of Patchogue and United Veterans Organization of Patchogue’s annual 9/11 observance at Sept. 11 Memorial Park. It was one of several 9/11 observances held in the area, including those in Bellport, Brookhaven, and at the Patchogue Fire Department. 

On Sept. 11, 2001, Lange was a senior executive officer to the support group commander at Offutt Air Force Base outside Omaha, Neb., and a navigator aboard the National Airborne Operations Center.

When Lange arrived at work that day, he turned on the TV and watched the plane hit the World Trade Center’s North Tower.

“Immediately, as an experienced aviator of many years, I knew this was not an accident,” he said.

“I was thinking about all my friends and family back in New York,” Lange said. “As many times as I’ve been homesick, there was no time when I wanted to be home more than in that period.”

Lange was worried about friends who worked in Lower Manhattan, not knowing whether they were alive or dead.

“It was a very, very emotional time for me,” he said. “I was trying to focus on my job, but I was also constantly thinking about what was happening back home.”

Lange was one of several speakers at Patchogue’s 9/11 observance.

Other speakers included VFW Post 2913 commander Joseph VanEmmerik and elected officials including Patchogue mayor Paul Pontieri and Suffolk County executive Ed Romaine.

Romaine asked that those assembled not forget the lives that were lost on Sept. 11.

“May their memory always live on in the hearts of Americans,” Romaine said.

The ceremony also included a moment of silence and the playing of taps.

Lange ended his remarks by asking those assembled to “live your life and live each day with purpose.”

“As the tragedy of 9/11 so clearly illustrated,” he said, “none of us have any way of knowing what tomorrow brings, so live for today.”