9.11.10 – 9th Anniversary of Radical Islamic Terror and Murder, and American Strength and Character

Ride Report by Lutz

Photos by Anthony Cirillo (See Photo Page for full album)

On September 11, 2001, on a beautiful, fall-clear day, the most devastating act of war ever committed against the United States on our own soil turned our lives inside out. I remember thinking that, from this day forward, our world would always exist in our minds in two parts – “before 911” and “after 911.”

As a direct result of those attacks in New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania, America went to war. The attacks on America took place 9 years ago, and today America is still at war.

“Freedom itself was attacked this morning by a faceless coward, and freedom will be defended. ” – George W. Bush, on the night of the attacks on American by Islam.

The men and women of the American Armed Forces, the finest fighting force that this world has ever seen, have died by the thousands in the defense of “freedom itself.” These heroic figures, young American people who are the very personification of “character,” “strength,” and moral rectitude, have taken on the fight against American’s enemies, against the enemies of all of free mankind – they have taken the fight to the enemy and they are winning, as freedom always does in the end.

The cost has been great. In partial payment of that cost, ordinary citizens, those of us who cannot serve in combat  ourselves, have stepped up to provide support for the troops who fight and for their families. We collect money and creature comforts, we write letters of support, we watch over the families, and we erect monuments so that no one will ever forget what was lost.

In Pennsylvania the only official memorial to the citizens (our mothers, fathers, sons and daughters, friends and coworkers), from Bucks County, Pennsylvania who died that day, is the Garden of Reflection in Bucks County, near Washington’s crossing. The names of 18 Bucks victims are memorialized there, along with all of those from all places who got up that morning, showered, shaved, dressed, kissed their families good-by, and then died.

They died for no reason. They died simply because they went to work that morning in a free nation. They died at the hands of those who hate freedom. And for those who died, American went to war. For those who fight that war, groups like the Warriors’ Watch Riders, A Hero’s Welcome, and others were created in support of the war effort.

One of the 18 Bucks residents memorialized there is Victor Saracini. He was the pilot of United Flight 175, the plane that was flown into the South Tower on 911, presumeably after the crew had been murdered.  Saracini and his wife Ellen were from Lower Makefield Township, the site of the memorial now. Ellen was a driving force behind the construction of that memorial. (It is a beautiful tribute – see it at http://www.9-11memorialgarden.org/ )

Ellen is also a member of the Warriors’ Watch Riders. We, the WWR, have made it an annual event to go to the memorial on 9/11 and take part in the service held there remembering that horrible day. Last year a few of us huddled around a Rabbi in the pouring, driving rain and had a very intimate service all on our own. The ceremonies for that day had been rescheduled for that afternoon because of the threat of lightning in that wide-open area.

This year, the day was as fine as the September day was 9 years ago. Blue September skies, mild temperatures. The service at the memoiral was attended by approximately 500 people (that’s my estimate.)

We made lots of new friends, and saw lots of old ones – some politicos were in the crowd, lots of men from the Airline Pilots Association who raised the commemerative flag as part of the ceremony, and of cours a contingent of Warriors’ Watch Riders. We rode in and formed our solumn flag lines as a backdrop to the proceedings.

September 11 should never become a “Monday Holiday,” celebrated with GIANT FURNITURE SALES!!!, but neither do we dare ever forget that day. Services like that held at the Garden of Reflection, and places like the Garden of Reflection, help us to focus our minds on the tragedy and its meaning, to remember what was lost, and to look at what was gained, since that September day 9 years ago when the world stopped turning.

THIS FLAG WAS FLOWN ABOARD AIRPLANES THAT FLEW OVER SITES OF THE WORLD TRADE CENTER, THE PENTAGON AND SHENKSVILLE, PA, IN HONOR OF THE 2,973 PEOPLE WHO LOST THEIR LIVES THERE IN THE ATTACKS OF SEPTEMBER 11, 2001.

THAT JOURNEY SYMBOLICALLY LINKS THE THREE SITES WITH THE GARDEN OF REFLECTION 9-11 MEMORIAL IN YARDLEY PENNSYLVANIA.