Dalton Fire Marks 9/11 Anniversary With Ceremony
On a beautiful, sunny fall morning not unlike the one that unfolded 19 years ago on September 11th, 2001, firefighters from the Dalton Fire Department gathered with members of the community outside the Whitfield County Courthouse for a ceremony marking the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The ceremony, next to the Avenue of Flags display on the grounds of the courthouse, included a prayer offered by Firefighter III Gary Stanley, and remarks from Chief Todd Pangle and Lt. Dan Hudson.
The full text of Lt. Hudson's remarks:
"Good morning.
As a preacher’s son, it was ingrained into me at an early age that anything worth saying will come with three points. I’m not a preacher, but in an effort to make Dad proud, this morning I want to challenge us to three things: to Remember, to Honor, and to Recount.
While today has been designated as Patriot Day since 2002, our presidents since President Bush have also designated the days around September 11th as National Days of Prayer and Remembrance. So it’s entirely appropriate for us to gather this morning to remember. It would be easy for us to call to mind some of the many stories of heroism and courage that were displayed on September 11th, 2001. In fact, there are too many stories to mention here and undoubtedly countless that no one will ever know. But, if we are to be a culture that treasures and values all life, then we do well to remember not only our heroes, both uniformed and civilian, but also those whose lives were snuffed out in an instant, those who had no opportunity in their final moments to act selflessly.
The victims of 9/11 were all sons and daughters to someone. They left behind parents, brothers, and sisters, and their deaths made widowers and widows of their spouses. They left behind some 1,300 orphans. Now, we could talk about the human potential that was lost with the nearly 3,000 people who died that day. Books that wouldn’t be written, breakthroughs in various fields of work that were never made, organizations stripped of their leaders, but even that would miss the point. Our Founders got it right in our first document, the Declaration of Independence, when they declared that people have intrinsic rights, rights that stem from value that is “endowed by their Creator.” A culture of life celebrates and remembers the lives lost on September 11th irrespective of their station in life, the color of their skin, or their contributions. Life is precious. Full stop. We rightly mourn for every person who died that day.
Point Number Two. It IS good to honor the courage and sacrifice that so many showed on September 11th. Todd Beamer’s famous last known words “Let’s roll!” as he and other passengers of Flight 93 stormed the cockpit in an attempt to take control of their aircraft. Knowing the fate of the other airplanes that morning, it was their plan, should all else fail, to fly their plane into the ground and thus prevent even more deaths. They crashed in an empty field only 20 minutes of flight time away from the suspected target of either the White House or the Capitol Building. Or Rick Rescorla, head of corporate security for Morgan Stanley, already a Silver Star recipient for his actions in Vietnam. He sang into a bullhorn to keep calm the 2,700 people he was responsible for evacuating as they exited the South Tower. He called his wife and with his last words told her to stop crying. “I have to get these people out safely,” he said. He was last seen on the 10th floor of the South Tower, headed up to look for stragglers. Or FDNY Ladder 3’s Captain Patrick “Paddy” Brown whose last words to Dispatch are known by firefighters all over the country. From the 35th floor of the North Tower he said, “This is 3 Truck and we’re still heading up!”
The police officers, military personnel, medics, and firefighters who died in the line of duty that day wouldn’t have
imagined that they would be called on that particular morning to make good on the oaths they had taken. That day, like today, started out beautifully. I remember that it was as pleasant here in Georgia as it was in New York City. You might even still remember the blue skies in the background of your TV as the towers burned. Many of the emergency responders who ultimately responded to the towers didn’t even have to be there. FDNY’s shift change is at 9 am. But rig after rig rode to the scene with every seat taken as firefighters getting off their tours chose to put their gear right back on the trucks and head into Manhattan. Those on scene, especially the veterans of the fire service, had to know that this was the most historic tragedy ever to have hit their city, and many of those climbing the stairwells had to know that they were trading precious last minutes for lives.
It’s been said that courage is displayed when character meets opportunity. Nelson Mandela put it this way: “Courage isn’t the absence of fear, but the triumph over it.” By any definition, men and women, both those wearing badges and those not wearing badges, took unbelievably courageous action that day in service of their fellow man. For some, it was intentional training that took over. Their creeds propelled them to act. Others found themselves thrust into situations they couldn’t possibly have prepared for, but they chose in those moments to look to the needs of others. In so doing, they demonstrated another bedrock principal of a culture that honors life - the putting of the lives of others before our own.
One last word on this point. A friend who knew I’d be speaking this morning reminded me of the staggering number of law enforcement officers who died at the Trade Center: 60 officers of the NYPD, Port Authority, and the New Jersey Police Department. When I’m asked about what it’s like to be a firefighter, I typically respond that it’s the best job in the world because everyone loves to see firefighters coming. And it’s true. People are almost always happy to see us. This is not always the case for our brothers and sisters in blue. Law enforcement has always been a hard job and it seems that the job is only getting harder. In some ways, it wasn’t surprising that the FDNY would lose 343 members in the collapses. But the staggering loss of life in the law enforcement community is powerful testimony to their dedication to serve and to save life also.
Finally, the last point is a challenge to act: Recount. Most of us here this morning know exactly where we were on September 11, 2001. A few of you had already been born, but maybe were too young to remember the events of that day. But consider this: no one in our school systems was even born in 2001. We remember and we honor when we tell the stories from that day to our children and our grandchildren, our nephews and nieces.
Our country has a rich tradition of service, and we’ve sent our young men and women into harm’s way for centuries now to protect the vulnerable and oppressed all over the world. Cultures of courage don’t magically appear. They don’t form in a vacuum. The heroic actions taken on September 11th came from deep wells of respect for duty and hearts that were already bent toward sacrificial service. It we don’t continue to cultivate that within our own families, our country’s muscle memory will get weak. GK Chesterton said that “Fairy tells do not tell children that dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children that dragons can be killed.” When we tell our children about the actual heroes of 9/11, real stories, not even fairy tales, we’re giving them the fortitude and courage to act selflessly and heroically too. We’re preparing our next generation of heroes for the challenges that they’ll one day face.
Remember, Honor, and Recount.
God bless you all, and may God bless America."
