9/11 Remembered

Readers' Stories: How September 11 Changed Us

Contributors Remember 9/11's Effects, Good and Bad...

http://news.yahoo.com/readers-stories-september-11-changed-us-224900323.html

 

9/11 video timeline: How the day unfolded

9/11 video timeline: How the day unfolded

http://news.yahoo.com/9-11-video-timeline-how-the-day-unfolded.html

 

AP sources: No sign of US entry for terror plot

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. intelligence agencies have found no evidence that al-Qaida has sneaked any terrorists into the country for a strike coinciding with the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, senior officials said Saturday.

But authorities kept a high alert as investigators looked for proof of a plot possibly timed to disrupt events planned Sunday in Washington or New York.

Since late Wednesday, counterterrorism officials have chased a tip that al-Qaida may have sent three men to the U.S. on a mission to detonate a car bomb in either city. At least two of those men could be U.S. citizens, according to the tip.

No intelligence supported that tip as of Saturday, and officials continued to question the validity of the initial information.

While such tips are common among intelligence agencies, this one received more attention, and government officials chose to speak publicly about it, because of the connection to the anniversary of the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history.

Al-Qaida long has hoped to strike again on the anniversary.

At the FBI field office in Washington, assistant director James McJunkin described the tip and the response as routine. The U.S. already had bolstered security nationwide before the upcoming anniversary and anticipated an increase in tips.

"We expect we're going to get an increase in threats and investigative activity around high-profile dates and events," he said. "This is a routine response for us. It's routine because it's muscle memory."

Intelligence analysts have looked at travel patterns and behaviors of people who recently entered the country. While they have singled out a few people for additional scrutiny, none has shown any involvement in a plot, according to the senior U.S. officials, who insisted on anonymity to discuss the investigation.

President Barack Obama met with his national security team Saturday, but the White House released no new information about possible threats. A statement said that counterterrorism efforts were working well and would not ease in the weeks and months ahead.

The tip that touched off the most recent investigation came from a CIA informant who has proved reliable in the past, according to U.S. officials. They said the informant approached intelligence officials overseas to say that the men were ordered by new al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri to mark the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 by doing harm on U.S. soil.

He took over as the group's leader after the U.S. killed Osama bin Laden during a raid in May at his compound in Pakistan.

The informant said the would-be attackers were of Arab descent and might speak Arabic as well as English. Counterterrorism officials were looking for certain names associated with the threat, but it was unclear whether the names were real or fake.

Some intelligence officials have raised doubts about the threat, given the short turnaround time. Someone who recently arrived in the United States would have just days to plan and obtain materials for a car bomb attack, a difficult feat even with a long lead time.

But they did not dismiss the threat. Extra security was put in place to protect the people in the two cities that took the brunt of the jetliner attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Both cities were clearly on edge. Police in New York were investigating two vans stolen from a World Trade Center site contractor and another from a New Jersey storage facility. Their counterparts in Washington were on the lookout for a pair of U-Haul vans reported missing from nearby Prince George's County, Maryland, though U-Haul said one was later found. The company had no details

Police connected none of the threats to a terror plot, but said they were taking extra precautions because of the recent threat.

Law enforcement agencies around the country had increased security at airports, nuclear plants, train stations and elsewhere in the weeks leading to Sept. 11. The latest threat made those measures more urgent.

U.S. embassies and consulates also stepped up safeguards in preparation for the anniversary.

While authorities urged people to keep a watchful eye for suspicious activity as usual, they said there was no reason the latest tip should change anyone's weekend.

"Whatever you have plans for, it's a beautiful day. It's going to be a beautiful weekend," McJunkin said. "It's college football Saturday. Tomorrow is the start of the NFL season. So we expect the public is going to be out enjoying what it means to be an American."

 

Videos replay hardships of 9/11

So many of us remember 9/11 like it was yesterday. But our recollections of that day are a collection of specific images and moments that overwhelmed us. We see the towers, of course. We see heroes, the first-responders. We see the anguish on the faces of our fellow Americans, searching for safety and in some cases, loved ones lost. Here are three of those flashback moments, as seen on ABC News on 9/11. Although they are 10 years old, they seem all too fresh.

http://news.yahoo.com/videos-replay-hardships-of-9-11.html

 

A family remembers: Hero of 9/11 gave life to save thousands

He's been called a "prophet" for being so ready for the attacks, "the Man Who Predicted 9/11" in a History Channel special, and a true American hero by countless others.

As tragic as the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, was, the sky-blue day still held unexpected miracles, and Richard "Rick" Rescorla was at the center of one of the greatest -- the evacuation of financial-services behemoth Morgan Stanley.

Rick Rescorla
Rescorla , a 62-year-old retired and decorated U.S. Army colonel, had focused on security at the World Trade Center for years. Prior to the bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993, and while he was working in security for Dean Witter, he had approached the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey about security vulnerabilities in the WTC's garage. He was told to focus only on his companies' floors, according to biographer James Stewart. He did that. But, along with Dan Hill, a military buddy of his, he didn't stop thinking about security weaknesses and terrorism.

After a company merger in 1997, Rescorla became director of security at Morgan Stanley, where he maintained vigilant attention to the firm's -- and the building's -- safety. Despite disruption at the busy brokerage firm, he insisted on holding twice-yearly evacuation drills by the stairwell for the firm's 22 floors in the south tower.

The result: On Sept. 11, 2001, his team was ready.

Despite having received official instructions to stay put after the 8:46 a.m. crash next door, Rescorla told Morgan Stanley staffers to follow his evacuation plan, and he sent them two by two, as they had practiced, down the many flights of stairs. His decision and his preparation made all the difference. Although 13 employees -- including Rescorla -- perished, more than 2,500 employees left the tower alive. That's where the word "miracle" comes in. It's also where the word "hero" comes in.

According to "The New Yorker," Rescorla used his cell phone to call Hill to get updates on news footage as he directed employees by bullhorn. He was "calm and collected, never raising his voice." Then Hill heard him break into song," the article notes. He also called his wife, Susan. "If something should happen to me, I want you to know I've never been happier," he said.


To two young adults, Rescorla was simply known as Dad. His daughter, Kim, now 33, was in law school at Seton Hall University in Newark, New Jersey, at the time. She and her brother, Trevor, now 35, were living with their mom, Rescorla's first wife, Betsy, in Morristown, New Jersey, when the attacks occurred.

They were not surprised that he died in the line of duty. Trevor says, "I knew he would be the last person out, because it was his command. As long as there were people in there, he would try to get them out."

"It was part of who my father was. He stayed to help evacuate the building in 1993 and would not have done anything different that day," Kim says.

Rick Rescorla in Vietnam.
Richard "Rick" Rescorla's military service has been memorialized widely -- a photo of him in battle was the cover of the 1992 book "'We Were Soldiers Once … and Young,"' and Fort Benning, Georgia, displays a statue of him. He fought in a major battle in 1965 in Vietnam at Ia Drang, a Communist stronghold and a major supply route. He led his company in securing a defense perimeter, and after enduring waves of assault, kept his men's spirits up by leading them in singing military songs through the night.

But the title of a 2002 biography and opera debuting this weekend in San Francisco that details Rescorla's sacrifice on Sept. 11 may best define him: "Heart of a Soldier."

More from Rescorla's daughter, Kim, and son, Trevor

On witnessing and mourning his death:

Kim: "We were part of a community of those that had lost loved ones, and although each loss was unique, no loss was more poignant or devastating than any other.

"In addition, we were bombarded with images of the collapse of the towers, and I knew, as I watched the towers fall, I was also witnessing the murder of my father."

Trevor: "Every day there was something that reminded me of my father."

On how 9/11 changed them:

Kim: "[I had been] unaware of anything outside of my family, my friends, and my studies. I became cognizant of the world being a much larger place. Prior to 9/11, I could not conceive that there were people so consumed by hate and desperation that they would be capable and willing to sacrifice themselves to viciously murder people they had never met.

"I chose to focus my career in estate planning and estate administration [because] many of those that perished did so without estate-planning documents, causing administrative burdens for their families at a time of emotional turmoil."

Trevor: "I am sure that my father's background has shaped my interest in helping people. He instilled in me a sense that there is a duty to help your fellows and the perspective that we are all only a trick of fate from being in the same position [as someone else].

"He always impressed upon me the need to be my own man and follow my own path, but who he was had, and does have, a significant influence on who I am." (Trevor completed a master's degree in criminal justice from John Jay College of Criminal Justice at the City University of New York.)

 

Video: 9/11 babies, 10 years later

Video: 9/11 babies, 10 years later:

http://news.yahoo.com/video--9-11-babies--10-years-later.html

 

How We've Changed

September, 11 Anniversary Profiles

http://news.yahoo.com/september-11-anniversary-profiles/

 

Families take back Ground Zero amid sunshine, shadows

Families take back Ground Zero amid sunshine, shadows

http://news.yahoo.com/families-take-back-ground-zero-amid-sunshine-shadows.html


NEW YORK -- Some arrived the night before, standing until dawn's early light. Others came in swarms at the end, up from the heavily secured subways to these sad, sacred acres.

Some were there to mourn what had been lost. Others came to represent what had been saved. Some came so they could remember what had happened 10 years ago. Others to find a bit more closure so maybe they could, at last, enjoy a measure of relief.

They came to the memorial service at Ground Zero here and heard a choir sing, two presidents speak, and six moments of silence pass.

Church bells rang throughout the city. The bagpipes of "Amazing Grace" whistled around corners. People even chanted "USA, USA." They stayed and listened to the reading of 2,983 innocent names into the Manhattan morning, an act designed to both provide remembrance on an individual level and offer proof on a global one to all the despots that divide through denial.

"We've lived in sunshine and shadow," New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. This day was to acknowledge both.

They came to look wide-eyed up at the surrounding canyons of steel and into the still gaping, reconstructed space where hell came to America like never before. One World Trade Center is being built, a museum is nearly done, yet it still feels empty.


They came by the thousands even if they could barely see or hear the ceremonies, even as the warnings of more terrorists seeking to kill more Americans dominated discussion.

They refused to be deterred or distracted or driven away.

Parents came to remember lost children. Children came to remember lost parents. Others came to remember the sacrifice of all those strangers, the workers in the towers, the first responders who tried to save them, the passengers and crew members on the plane, even the soldiers who wound up fighting wars that essentially began right here.

They stood and prayed and acknowledged the moment the first tower was hit, then the second, then the Pentagon in Virginia and the field in Pennsylvania, then the collapsing of one building, then the next. Each moment seemingly more haunting than the last.

From sea to shining sea, the song goes, and here was this sea of shining people, American people, all races and creeds, all colors and classes, all ages and allegiances. Some with family ties that date back centuries and some who didn't even land on these great shores until Sept. 11, 2001, had already played out.

"The world stopped that day," said Johnny Frisk, who flew from Sweden, his first visit to the States, just to attend the service. "I felt it was important to be here, to show we're a family."

Here were fire and police teams from everywhere: Cleveland, Long Beach, Germany. They just showed up, without fanfare, black bands over badges because they couldn't imagine not. "I couldn't be here 10 years ago to help," offered J.R. Easton, a firefighter from Surrey, British Columbia.

This certainly isn't how anyone who took over a plane that day designed it.


Here was the full spectrum of human emotions. Lines of the somber yet strong, patiently waiting through heavy security. Even soft laughter, at appropriate times.

Here were the families, arriving with little American flags and clutched pictures of their loved ones. Portraits, family poses, or just images of them in full form -- finishing marathons, beaming at weddings, one out on a fishing boat. They kept coming and coming, block after city block, from the shadows and into the morning sun.

Here was New York; here was America; here, indeed, was the world at its strongest, at its most unified, at its most respectful. Here was the best rising out of the worst, people showing strength by filling streets where ash once rained down.

Here was a chance to steal back something from this place, to make sure that for one morning at least the spot where their loved ones died was alive with the spirits of how they had lived.

"Never forget," it said on so many shirts.

And no one forgot. The politicians spoke with eloquence but it was the people who took the place back.

 

At Ground Zero: The 9/11 anniversary

A look at the Ground Zero memorial ceremony and events throughout the day, commemorating the 10-year anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

http://news.yahoo.com/photos/at-ground-zero-the-9-11-anniversary-1315742916-slideshow/

 

Peter Negron 10 years later: ‘I miss you so much, Dad’

Peter Negron 10 years later: ‘I miss you so much, Dad’

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/upshot/boy-read-poem-13-grown-135446727.html

Peter Negron speaks at the 9/11 10th-anniversary memorial ceremony in New York
When Peter Negron's father, a Port Authority project manager, died in his office at the World Trade Center, the boy was only 11.

Immediately after the attacks, he was one of more than a thousand children left suddenly without a parent. His dad, Pete Negron, 34, worked on the 88th floor of WTC 1 on environmental issues. Living in Bergenfield, N.J., with his mother Leila, and 2-year-old brother, he spent that first Father's Day of 2002 angry.

"I don't want to talk to nobody, see nobody, do nothing," he told a news reporter then. "I just want to go to the cemetery and say that I love him..."

Peter Negron, 13, reads the poem "Stars" on September 11, 2003.

Peter Negron, 13, reads the poem "Stars" on September 11, 2003.
Two years later, the thin 13-year-old stood in a dark suit, steeped with grief, to shakily read a poem in front of the whole nation. It was "Stars," written by children's author Deborah Chandra:

"I like the way they looked down from the sky / And didn't seem to mind the way I cried / And didn't say, 'Now wipe away those tears,' / Or, 'Tell us, tell us what's the matter here!' / But shining through the dark they calmly stayed / And gently held me in their quiet way. / I felt them watching over me, each one / And let me cry and cry till I was done."

Peter Negron, 13, reads the poem 'Stars' on Sept. 11, 2003, at the second anniversary of the WTC attacks in which …

Today the 21-year-old appeared again in front of the nation, and this time shared a message of strength, growth and reflection.

He spoke about how he's tried to fill his father's shoes for his brother Austin, who turned 12 on September 1.

"I try to teach him all the things my father taught me. How to catch a baseball, how to ride a bike," and to work hard in school, he said.

He never stops missing his father in the important moments of life.

"I wish my dad had been there to teach me how to drive, ask a girl on a date, and see me graduate from high school," he said, choking up. "And a hundred other things I can't even begin to name."

He said he's learned more about his father since his death. "He cared about the earth, and our future. I know he wanted to make a difference," he said. He wants to do the same.

"I have decided to become a forensic scientist," he said. "I hope I can make my father proud of the young men me and my brother have become. I miss you so much, Dad."

 

Obama, Bush join together for a first at 9/11 ceremony

Obama, Bush join together for a first at 9/11 ceremony


President Barack Obama, first lady Michelle Obama, former President George W. Bush and former first lady Laura …


It was poignant, solemn, and a first for them both: President Barack Obama and former President George Bush, side-by-side, at site of the former World Trade Center towers.

Last spring, just days after Osama bin Laden was killed by U.S. forces, Obama flew to New York City for a few moments at Ground Zero, to honor those who had fallen in the terrorist attacks.

But when he extended an invitation to former President George W. Bush, the invite was declined.

On Sunday, two stood quietly in front of the bronze parapets that surround the giant reflecting pools, which stand in the exact footprints of the former twin towers.

First Lady Michele Obama stood by the president's side, and Laura Bush stood next to the former president.

On May 5, when he visited the site, Obama noted, "It didn't matter who was in charge, we were going to make sure that the perpetrators of that horrible act -- that they received justice."

At the time, the former president wished to remain out of the spotlight, CNN reported a Bush spokesman saying. But today's ceremony unified the two families, and was marked by the memorable gesture when Michele Obama had an arm around Laura Bush as she broke down in tears.

 

9/11 memorial ceremony details explained

9/11 memorial ceremony details explained



New York City firefighters and police officers hold a damaged flag from the World Trade Center site during ceremonies …
What was the significance of the tattered flag unfurled during the national anthem?

This is the same flag that flew over the World Trade Center site for nearly two months after the 9/11 attacks. It originally flew atop a building near the twin towers and it was recovered after 9/11. It is 20 feet by 30 feet and it was stitched back together by heroes from all 50 states. Tattered or ripped American flags are not supposed to be flown, but this flag became a symbol of American community and resilience.

What Bible verse was President Obama reading? And what passage was President Bush reading?

He was reading from Psalm 46. Politicians are asked to do readings every year on the 9/11 anniversary, instead of make speeches. That way the reading of the victims’ names is not overshadowed. Here’s the text from Obama’s reading:

1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. 2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea; 3 though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble with its tumult. (Selah) 4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. 5 God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved; God will help it when the morning dawns. 6 The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts. 7 The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. (Selah) 8 Come, behold the works of the Lord; see what desolations he has brought on the earth. 9 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear; he burns the shields with fire. 10 "Be still, and know that I am God! I am exalted among the nations, I am exalted in the earth." 11 The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. (Selah)

Former President Bush read the letter from President Lincoln to Lydia Bixby, who lost five sons in the Civil War:

Executive Mansion,
Washington, Nov. 21, 1864.

Dear Madam,--

I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle.

I feel how weak and fruitless must be any word of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save.

I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.

Yours, very sincerely and respectfully,

Lincoln

What was the classical music being played?

Yo-Yo Ma performed "Sarabande" from Bach's First Suite for Cello Solo. He also performed on the one-year anniversary of 9/11 in 2002. Not very many notes in this song but beautiful and haunting in its simplicity.

How are the names organized on the WTC memorial?

At first the plan was to arrange the names without any order because of the random nature of the way the victims died, but that plan was altered after anger from family members and firefighters. Instead, first responders’ names are engraved in a ribbon on a parapet overlooking the south reflecting pool. They are grouped by command, precinct or company so that visitors can recognize friends and coworkers. But there is no grouping by rank for either firefighters or police officers. The names of those who died in the South Tower are listed on the south reflecting pool, along with those in United Airlines Flight 175, which hit the South Tower. Those who died in American Airlines 11, which hit the North Tower, are listed on the north reflecting pool. The names of those on the flights that crashed into the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania are listed on the south memorial. So are the six people who died in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, as well as those who died on 9/11 but whose location that day is not known. There are 1,518 names around the north pool and 1,461 names around the south pool. Spouses and family members are grouped together, as are co-workers from companies in the towers, but no ages or floors are listed.

Where’s Bill Clinton?

He spoke Saturday in Shanksville, Pa., vowing to raise the $10 million dollars needed to complete the memorial there for the victims of Flight 93. And in a moving moment, he promised to work with Speaker of the House John Boehner to collect the money. “Since I am no longer in office, I can do unpopular things,” Clinton declared at the end of his remarks at Saturday’s dedication ceremony. “I was aghast to find out we still need to raise $10 million to finish this place. And Speaker Boehner and I have already volunteered to do a bipartisan event in Washington and let’s get this show on the road. Let’s roll.” That phrase, “Let’s roll,” was heard by the passenger Todd Beamer on Flight 93 before he and others rushed the cockpit. It became a rallying cry for the entire nation. More than $52 million has already been raised for the memorial.

Clinton issued a statement Sunday on the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks. He said America is "remembering and honoring the lives of those who were killed and their loved ones." Clinton also cited "the courage of those who tried to save them — and of those who survived and had to begin again."

 

"Tribute in Lights" in New York

Images of the "Tribute in Lights" over the World Trade Center site in New York.

http://news.yahoo.com/photos/-tribute-in-lights-in-new-york-1315710349-slideshow/

 

9/11 Pentagon Remembrance Ceremony

Remembering the September 11, 2011 attack on the Pentagon.

http://news.yahoo.com/photos/9-11-pentagon-remembrance-ceremony-1315758886-slideshow/

 

Memorable moments: Ground Zero memorial ceremony

A collection of moments from the 9/11 anniversary memorial ceremony in New York.

http://news.yahoo.com/photos/memorable-moments-ground-zero-memorial-ceremony-1315761242-slideshow/

 

Tributes to 9/11 victims across the U.S.

Tributes were held around the country for the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the U.S.

http://news.yahoo.com/photos/tributes-to-the-9-11-attacks-1315712232-slideshow/

 

Things like that still move me every time I read them.

 

NFL's comforting role on 9/11 anniversary

Giants, Redskins fans unite as one


A giant American flag covers the field in honor of the 10th anniversary of 9/11 before an NFL football game between the New York Giants and the Washington Redskins, Sunday, Sept. 11, 2011, in Landover, Md. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)



Cliff Owen - A giant American flag covers the field in honor of the 10th anniversary of 9/11 before an NFL football game between the New York Giants and the Washington Redskins, Sunday, Sept. 11, 2011, in Landover.


LANDOVER, Md. – On the afternoon exactly 10 years after the dreadful day, Melissa Regan dressed her 12-year-old son Spencer in the burgundy t-shirt she had specially-made – the one that read: "Let's Roll" on the front and "Remember 9-11" on the back – and drove him as she often does on autumn Sundays, to the Washington Redskins game.

Only this time it didn't seem to her so much like a game.

The Redskins were playing the New York Giants and while she had never cared for the Giants, a bitter rival to her beloved Redskins, there was symmetry to the fact that on the 10th anniversary of Sept. 11, New York and Washington were playing each other. And it seemed to her that maybe this was a game the Redskins didn't have to win.

"You know, I hope New York wins today, too," she said, realizing, of course, such a thing couldn't happen.

But even though this was the first game of the NFL season and even though the Redskins and Giants have been bitter rivals for decades, there was a certain peacefulness in the hours before the game began. The Redskins handed tiny American flags to each of the fans who poured through the FedEx Field gates, not that they always needed to as some fans came in carrying folded flags or wearing flag t-shirts or flags turned into bandanas. They chanted "USA, USA, USA" as they moved through the concourses and they yelled it as one before the teams took the field.

Rather than the usual sea of Redskins colors, the stands were suddenly filled with the red-white-and-blue of the little flags. It was a stirring sight.

In many ways, the NFL has been intertwined with the military more than other sports. War metaphors have long been a part of football language and the so-called gladiator mentality of the players translates well to the soldiers on the field. Many of the war's top commanders played football at West Point and Giants Coach Tom Coughlin has a son who was in the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, and made it out alive. So yes, much more than football filled the stadium from which you can see the U.S. Capitol building in some of the higher rows.


Never was that more evident than in Army veteran Luis Rosa-Valentin who sat in a wheel chair outside the tunnel to the field. He was missing both legs and his left arm – all of which were blown off by an IED in Baghdad in April of 2008. "I just live day to day and I think I'm doing pretty well," he said. His first day of boot camp was ironically Sept. 11, 2001, and he remembers two hours into their day being hustled into a room for briefings. Two years later he was in Iraq.

He looked out toward the field.

"It's what I want to see," he said of the crowd gathered in the stands outside despite the threats of terrorist attacks in Washington. "I want to see everybody living day-to-day lives. [The terrorists’] weapon is fear."

On the sidewalks outside, fans gathered around a life-size model of the three firemen hoisting an American flag on the top of World Trade Center rubble from the now-famous photo. It was made from beeswax and is usually on permanent display at Madame Tousad's Wax Museum in New York City. The New York Museum has loaned the display to its Washington museum, and early on Sunday morning museum workers took the display to FedEx where a steady stream of fans walked up in the blazing afternoon sun to snap pictures of themselves next to the replica of worn and bloodied firemen.

This is where Regan stood with her son. He was only two at the time of the attacks and really knew nothing of the day commemorated on his shirt. So as they drove to the game, Regan told him about that day. She told him of the planes that were hijacked and flown into the World Trade Center. She told him about the plane that hit the Pentagon. She told him how those two towers in New York burned and people jumped out of the windows and eventually with the world watching, how the two humongous towers tumbled to the ground and how some 3,000 people died.

Then she told him about Flight 93, the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania. She told him, too, about the passengers who rushed the cockpit, took control of the plane and sent it thundering to the ground in an explosion of broken metal. Most of all, she told him about what one of those passengers said as they stormed the cockpit door.

"Let's Roll."

And when she wanted a shirt made for him to wear this day, this was what she asked her friend Mona Baker to press on the front in gold letters. Somehow it summed up exactly what she wanted him to know about this day.

Perhaps on an afternoon when a giant American flag was pulled across the field and former Secretary of State Gen. Colin Powell was the honorary Redskins captain, and an Army veteran named Jorge Torres bought tickets on Stub Hub so he and another veteran Miguel Lopez could see their first football game on the one day when football didn't matter, Spencer Regan's T-shirt might have been the most profound statement of all.

"Let's Roll."

There would be time for football.

 

Let’s hear it for New York

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/upshot/let-hear-york-184418384.html

"Never forgotten. Forever grateful." To help honor the victims and heroes of Sept. 11, director Spike Lee filmed a unique and moving tribute to the New York Fire Department.

Lee, working with State Farm, filmed roughly 150 children from New York serenading members of the FDNY to the tune of Jay-Z and Alicia Keys's smash hit "Empire State of Mind."

The tribute may remind some of Staten Island's PS 22 choir's version of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" at the most recent Academy Awards.

This version of "Empire State of Mind" was conducted by James Davis Jr. The spot first appeared online several days ago. It then aired during Sunday's Eagles-Rams NFL game. Now it is quickly going viral. Web searches for "empire state of mind lyrics" and "empire state of mind song" are starting to soar.

Concrete jungle where dreams are made of,
There's nothing you can't do,
Now you're in New York!
These streets will make you feel brand new,
The lights will inspire you,
Let's hear it for New York, New York, New York.