Never Forget

GOD BLESS AMERICA In Remembrance September 11, 2001

=== Please visit my Christmas page ===

This page is dedicated to the men, women and children who lost their lives in the tragic events of September 11. May God comfort their grieving families, and may He bless those who have joined Him in Heaven. Please pray for President Bush, that he may continue the struggle against all evil without fail. Thank you.

United We Stand

President George W. Bush's Speech The Oval Office Evening of September 11, 2001

Good evening. Today, our fellow citizens, our way of life, our very freedom came under attack in a series of deliberate and deadly terrorist acts. The victims were in airplanes, or in their offices; secretaries, businessmen and women, military and federal workers; moms and dads, friends and neighbors. Thousands of lives were suddenly ended by evil, despicable acts of terror. The pictures of airplanes flying into buildings, fires burning, huge structures collapsing, have filled us with disbelief, terrible sadness, and a quiet, unyielding anger. These acts of mass murder were intended to frighten our nation into chaos and retreat. But they have failed; our country is strong. A great people has been moved to defend a great nation. Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America. These acts shattered steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve. America was targeted for attack because we're the brightest beacon for freedom and opportunity in the world. And no one will keep that light from shining. Today, our nation saw evil, the very worst of human nature. And we responded with the best of America -- with the daring of our rescue workers, with the caring for strangers and neighbors who came to give blood and help in any way they could. Immediately following the first attack, I implemented our government's emergency response plans. Our military is powerful, and it's prepared. Our emergency teams are working in New York City and Washington, D.C. to help with local rescue efforts. Our first priority is to get help to those who have been injured, and to take every precaution to protect our citizens at home and around the world from further attacks. The functions of our government continue without interruption. Federal agencies in Washington which had to be evacuated today are reopening for essential personnel tonight, and will be open for business tomorrow. Our financial institutions remain strong, and the American economy will be open for business, as well. The search is underway for those who are behind these evil acts. I've directed the full resources of our intelligence and law enforcement communities to find those responsible and to bring them to justice. We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them. I appreciate so very much the members of Congress who have joined me in strongly condemning these attacks. And on behalf of the American people, I thank the many world leaders who have called to offer their condolences and assistance. America and our friends and allies join with all those who want peace and security in the world, and we stand together to win the war against terrorism. Tonight, I ask for your prayers for all those who grieve, for the children whose worlds have been shattered, for all whose sense of safety and security has been threatened. And I pray they will be comforted by a power greater than any of us, spoken through the ages in Psalm 23: "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me." This is a day when all Americans from every walk of life unite in our resolve for justice and peace. America has stood down enemies before, and we will do so this time. None of us will ever forget this day. Yet, we go forward to defend freedom and all that is good and just in our world. Thank you. Good night, and God bless America.

President George W. Bush's Speech Washington National Cathedral National Day of Prayer and Remembrance ~ Sept. 14, 2001

We are here in the middle hour of our grief. So many have suffered so great a loss, and today we express our nation's sorrow. We come before God to pray for the missing and the dead, and for those who love them. On Tuesday, our country was attacked with deliberate and massive cruelty. We have seen the images of fire and ashes, and bent steel. Now come the names, the list of casualties we are only beginning to read. They are the names of men and women who began their day at a desk or in an airport, busy with life. They are the names of people who faced death, and in their last moments called home to say, be brave, and I love you. They are the names of passengers who defied their murderers, and prevented the murder of others on the ground. They are the names of men and women who wore the uniform of the United States, and died at their posts. They are the names of rescuers, the ones whom death found running up the stairs and into the fires to help others. We will read all these names. We will linger over them, and learn their stories, and many Americans will weep. To the children and parents and spouses and families and friends of the lost, we offer the deepest sympathy of the nation. And I assure you, you are not alone. Just three days removed from these events, Americans do not yet have the distance of history. But our responsibility to history is already clear: to answer these attacks and rid the world of evil. War has been waged against us by stealth and deceit and murder. This nation is peaceful, but fierce when stirred to anger. This conflict was begun on the timing and terms of others. It will end in a way, and at an hour, of our choosing. Our purpose as a nation is firm. Yet our wounds as a people are recent and unhealed, and lead us to pray. In many of our prayers this week, there is a searching, and an honesty. At St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York on Tuesday, a woman said, "I prayed to God to give us a sign that He is still here." Others have prayed for the same, searching hospital to hospital, carrying pictures of those still missing. God's signs are not always the ones we look for. We learn in tragedy that his purposes are not always our own. Yet the prayers of private suffering, whether in our homes or in this great cathedral, are known and heard, and understood. There are prayers that help us last through the day, or endure the night. There are prayers of friends and strangers, that give us strength for the journey. And there are prayers that yield our will to a will greater than our own. This world He created is of moral design. Grief and tragedy and hatred are only for a time. Goodness, remembrance, and love have no end. And the Lord of life holds all who die, and all who mourn. It is said that adversity introduces us to ourselves. This is true of a nation as well. In this trial, we have been reminded, and the world has seen, that our fellow Americans are generous and kind, resourceful and brave. We see our national character in rescuers working past exhaustion; in long lines of blood donors; in thousands of citizens who have asked to work and serve in any way possible. And we have seen our national character in eloquent acts of sacrifice. Inside the World Trade Center, one man who could have saved himself stayed until the end at the side of his quadriplegic friend. A beloved priest died giving the last rites to a firefighter. Two office workers, finding a disabled stranger, carried her down sixty-eight floors to safety. A group of men drove through the night from Dallas to Washington to bring skin grafts for burn victims. In these acts, and in many others, Americans showed a deep commitment to one another, and an abiding love for our country. Today, we feel what Franklin Roosevelt called the warm courage of national unity. This is a unity of every faith, and every background. It has joined together political parties in both houses of Congress. It is evident in services of prayer and candlelight vigils, and American flags, which are displayed in pride, and wave in defiance. Our unity is a kinship of grief, and a steadfast resolve to prevail against our enemies. And this unity against terror is now extending across the world. America is a nation full of good fortune, with so much to be grateful for. But we are not spared from suffering. In every generation, the world has produced enemies of human freedom. They have attacked America, because we are freedom's home and defender. And the commitment of our fathers is now the calling of our time. On this national day of prayer and remembrance, we ask almighty God to watch over our nation, and grant us patience and resolve in all that is to come. We pray that He will comfort and console those who now walk in sorrow. We thank Him for each life we now must mourn, and the promise of a life to come. As we have been assured, neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, can separate us from God's love. May He bless the souls of the departed. May He comfort our own. And may He always guide our country. God bless America.

In memory of the victims of: The World Trade Center The Pentagon American Airlines Flight 11 American Airlines Flight 77 United Airlines Flight 93 United Airlines Flight 175 And to their families & friends.

Quotes
"Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and success of liberty."
	-- John F. Kennedy
"I will not forget the wound to our country and those who inflicted it. I will not yield, I will not rest, I will not relent in waging this struggle for freedom and security for the American people."
	-- George W. Bush, Sept. 11, '01
"War has been waged against us by stealth and deceit and murder. This nation is peaceful, but fierce when stirred to anger. This conflict was begun on the timing and terms of others. It will end in a way, and at an hour, of our choosing. "
	-- George W. Bush, Sept. 14, '01
"As for those that carried out these attacks there are no adequate words of condemnation. Their barbarism will stand as their shame for all eternity."
	-- British Prime Minister Tony Blair
"Not since Pearl Harbor has the United States been attacked in its own territory as we were today. Not since Pearl Harbor has our nation been placed on the challenge that it finds its today. 'We recommit as we did in 1941 that this act of terrorism will not go unpunished.' "
	-- Senator Bob Graham
"We have seen the greatness of America in airline passengers who defied their hijackers and ran a plane into the ground to spare the lives of others. We've seen the greatness of America in rescuers who rushed up flights of stairs toward peril. And we continue to see the greatness of America in the care and compassion our citizens show to each other."
	-- George W. Bush, Sept. 11, '02
"We would like to live as we once lived, but history will not permit it."
	- John F. Kennedy
"We pray that He will comfort and console those who now walk in sorrow. We thank Him for each life we now must mourn, and the promise of a life to come. As we have been assured, neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, can separate us from God's love. May He bless the souls of the departed. May He comfort our own. And may He always guide our country. "
	-- George W. Bush, Sept. 14, '01
"God understands our prayers even when we can't find the words to say them."
	-- Author Unknown
"In the ruins of two towers, under a flag unfurled at the Pentagon, at the funerals of the lost, we have made a sacred promise, to ourselves and to the world: We will not relent until justice is done and our nation is secure. What our enemies have begun, we will finish."
	-- George W. Bush, Sept. 11, '02
"God's signs are not always the ones we look for. We learn in tragedy that his purposes are not always our own. Yet the prayers of private suffering, whether in our homes or in this great cathedral, are known and heard, and understood. There are prayers that help us last through the day, or endure the night. There are prayers of friends and strangers, that give us strength for the journey. And there are prayers that yield our will to a will greater than our own. This world He created is of moral design. Grief and tragedy and hatred are only for a time. Goodness, remembrance, and love have no end. And the Lord of life holds all who die, and all who mourn."
	-- George W. Bush, Sept. 14, '01
"Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear."
	-- Ambrose Redmoon
"The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender, or submission."
	-- John F. Kennedy

Met In The Stairwell

© Stacey Randall

You say you will never forget where you were when you heard the news, Sept. 11, 2001. Neither will I. I was on the 110th floor in a smoke filled room with a man who called his wife to say "Good-bye." I held his fingers steady as he dialed. I gave him the peace to say, "Honey, I am not going to make it, but it is OK...I am ready to go." I was with his wife when he called as she fed breakfast to their children. I held her up as she tried to understand his words and as she realized he wasn't coming home that night. I was in the stairwell of the 23rd floor when a woman cried out to me for help. "I have been knocking on the door of your heart for 50 years!" I said. "Of course I will show you the way home -- only believe on Me now." I was at the base of the building with the Priest ministering to the injured and devastated souls. I took him home to tend to his Flock in Heaven. He heard my voice and answered. I was on all four of those planes, in every seat, with every prayer. I was with the crew as they were overtaken. I was in the very hearts of the believers there. Comforting and assuring them that their Faith has saved them. I was in Texas, Kansas, London. I was standing next to you when you heard the terrible news. Did you sense Me? I want you to know that I saw every face. I knew every name-though they did NOT all know Me. Some met me for the first time on the 100th floor. Some sought me out in their last breath. Some couldn't hear me calling to them throughout the smoke and flames, "Come to Me...this way...take my hand." Some chose, for the final time, to ignore Me. But, I was there. I did not place you in the Tower that day--you may not know why, But I DO. However, if you were there in that explosive moment in time, would you have reached for Me? September 11, 2001, was not the end of the journey for you. But someday your journey will end. And I will be there for you as well. Seek Me now while I may be found. Then, at any moment, you know you are "ready to go." I will be in the stairwell of your final moments. God

9-11 Timeline
7:58 a.m.	United Airlines Flight 175, a Boeing 767, departs Boston bound for Los Angeles
7:59 a.m.	American Airlines Flight 11, another Boeing 767, departs Boston bound for Los Angeles
8:01 a.m.	United Airlines Flight 93, a Boeing 757, leaves Newark, N.J., bound for San Francisco.
8:10 a.m.	American Airlines Flight 77, another Boeing 757, departs Washington Dulles International Airport bound for Los Angeles
8:46 a.m.	American Airlines Flight 11 crashes into the North Tower at the World Trade Center.
9:03 a.m.	United Flight 175 crashes into the South Tower at the World Trade Center. Subsequently, the Federal Aviation Administration shuts down all New York area airports.
9:05 a.m.	President Bush is told that a second plane has hit the Twin Towers.
9:21 a.m.	All bridges and tunnels leading into New York City are closed.
9:25 a.m.	All dometic flights are grounded by the FAA, for the first time in history. All planes that are in flight are ordered to land at the nearest available airport.
9:30 a.m.	President Bush delivers his first remarks on the tragedy, from the Sarasota school he was visiting, saying the country had suffered "an apparent terrorist attack".
9:45 a.m.	American Flight 77 crashes into the Pentagon.
10:00 a.m.	President Bush leaves Florida aboard Air Force One bound for a "secure location".
10:05 a.m.	The South Tower at the World Trade Center collapses.
10:05 a.m.	The White House is evacuated.
10:10 a.m.	A large portion of one side of the Pentagon collapses.
10:10 a.m.	Warned about other hijackings, United Flight 93 passengers confront the terrorits in their plane, which crashes in a wooded area near Shanksville, PA.
10:13 a.m.	The UN is evacuated.
10:22 a.m.	The State and Justice departments, along with the World Bank, are evacuated.
10:24 a.m.	All transatlantic flights are diverted to Canada.
10:28 a.m.	The North Tower at the World Trade Center collapses.
10:45 a.m.	All Washington federal office buildings are evacuated.
11:18 a.m.	American Airlines confirms that is has lost two jets. One crashed into the Pentagon; the other into the WTC's North Tower.
11:26 a.m.	United Airlines confirms that is has lost one jet, which crashed in Pennsylvania. It is concerned about another jet reported missing.
11:40 a.m.	President Bush arrives at Barksdale Air Force Base, LA
11:59 a.m.	United Airlines confirms that is has another jet, which crashed into the WTC's South Tower.
12:04 p.m.	Los Angeles Int'l Airport, destination of 3 of the doomed flights, is evacuated.
12:15 p.m.	San Francisco Int'l Airport, destination of the last crashed flight, is evacuated and shut down.
1:04 p.m.	President Bush addresses the nation from Louisiana, telling people that all appropriate security measures are being taken and asking for prayers.
1:48 p.m.	President Bush leaves Louisiana aboard Air Force One bound for another "secure location".
3:00 p.m.	President Bush arrives at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska where he meets with his national security staff via telephone. VP Cheney and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice are in a secure facility at the White House. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is at the Pentagon.
5:20 p.m.	Building 7 of the World Trade Center complex collapses. It had been damaged in the earlier collapses of the Twin Towers.
7:00 p.m.	President Bush is back in the White House.
8:30 p.m.	President Bush speaks to the nation.

THANK YOU

• To all who helped make a horrible situation a little better on that fateful day and the months that followed: Firefighters, police officers, emergency personnel, blood donors, etc. • To all those who have fought or are currently fighting so that you and I may continue to enjoy the freedoms we treasure. We are 100% behind you. God bless you and bring you safely home.

Links & Webrings The White House | 9-11 Digital Archive | September 11 News Washington National Cathedral | NYC Stories - 9/11 Light a Candle | Thank a U.S. Military Member

God Bless America
You are visitor no. to visit this page since April 24, 2004. Thanks!

We Shall Remember

Want to link to this page?
Then take a look at these...

Last updated on February 10, 2004	•	© Mimi Christien
Optimized for Internet Explorer 6.0 or above	•	Best viewed at 1024 x 768 resolution.