Seventh Anniversary of the 9/11 Attacks on America
Floor Speech
SEVENTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 9/11 ATTACKS ON AMERICA -- (Senate - September 11, 2008)
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, this morning 7 years to the minute since the terrorist attacks on the Nation, I attended the inauguration and dedication of the Pentagon Memorial. There have been countless personal memorials over the years. The Pentagon Memorial is America's first national memorial to those who died on that heartbreaking day. It is a beautiful, peaceful patch of land on the very spot where American Airlines flight 77 smashed into the west wall of the Pentagon. In that quiet place, there are 184 stainless steel benches, one bench for each of the 184 innocent victims who died at the Pentagon and on that plane that struck it 7 years ago today.
Thousands of people were at that ceremony this morning marking the dedication and opening of the Pentagon Memorial. They, of course, included the President and Vice President, the Cabinet, leaders in Congress, top military leaders, scores of Members of Congress, along with the survivors of the Pentagon attack and rescue workers who were the true heroes of the day. Most poignantly, we were joined by hundreds of husbands, wives, brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, friends of the loved ones who perished at the Pentagon.
While 9/11 comes once a year, for 9/11 families, every day brings painful reminders of what and whom they have lost. Their pain is still heartbreaking.
It was the families of the Pentagon victims who spearheaded the effort to create the Pentagon Memorial. We all hope they can find some measure of peace and comfort in their fine work in the creation of this memorial.
Yesterday afternoon I had a chance to visit in my office with a man with a small company near Chicago, IL, who worked for over a year to finish and polish the 184 stainless steel benches that make up the Pentagon Memorial. He lives and works in Elk Grove Village in Arlington Heights, and his name is Abe Yousif.
Abe came to America 29 years ago from Iraq. Abe's beautiful wife Angela moved to America 27 years ago, also from Iraq. The 23 employees of their little company, many of them are immigrants, too, from Mexico, Bosnia, and many other countries.
For more than a year, they have worked for this day when there would be an official opening of this Pentagon Memorial. Their job was to take these raw metal benches, 184 of these benches, and polish them as smooth as glass. Abe calculated for me the amount of time he and his employees put into this work. They worked nearly 17,000 hours grinding and polishing these stainless steel benches, transforming them into perfectly uniform, flawlessly smooth memorials.
Abe and his workers hoped that by making each bench perfect, they might be able to give something back to a country that has given them so much. They hope that the calm, clear lines of their work might bring a sense of healing to a wounded nation and bring some beauty to a place scarred by tragedy.
Many people will look across this memorial. They will see these finely polished stainless steel benches and assume somewhere there was a machine that just churned them out. No, it was the hard work and sweat of Abe Yousif and his employees who took this on not just as another project but as a project of love.
When I think of 9/11, I recall, as every American does, what I was doing. I was just a few steps away from here in the Capitol Building in a meeting of the Democratic leadership with Senator Tom Daschle. The meeting had just started when we heard about the planes crashing into the World Trade Center in New York.
As the meeting continued, Tom was handed a note that we were going to have to evacuate the Capitol. We looked down The Mall toward the Washington Monument and saw black, billowing smoke coming from across the river. We didn't know what happened. We thought perhaps a bomb had been detonated. In fact, it was American Airlines flight 77 that crashed into the Pentagon causing so many deaths of so many innocent people.
We evacuated and raced to the yard outside the Capitol, people milling around not knowing where to turn. We heard the sonic booms from jets that were being scrambled and wondered if there were detonation of bombs or something worse. We just didn't know.
One of the staffers I had at that time was Pat Sargent. Pat is an officer in the U.S. Army. Occasionally, the Army will detail some of its professionals to work on Capitol Hill for a short time. Pat was terrific, one of our best employees. But he had a special interest in the Pentagon that day because his wife Sherry, also in the U.S. Army, was working there.
When Pat heard about the smoke and damage at the Pentagon, he raced out to catch the last commuter bus that runs between Capitol Hill and the Pentagon, the last one to make it across the bridge. He was desperate to find his wife.
He went there, and there was a sea of humanity, of people who evacuated the Pentagon lined up on the hills around it. He searched and searched until he finally found her, and she was safe. That was the good news of the day, along with the tragedy that so many of her fellow workers had died.
Sherry had been in the room near the spot where that plane crashed. She lingered for a moment to watch the scenes of New York on television while some of her fellow workers went back to their desks. Those workers perished when the plane crashed into the Pentagon. She was spared.
Of course, they appreciate the heroism of those who responded, and all the memorials that were given to this country, but I want to give a special tribute to Pat and Sherry and their daughter Samantha for their dedication to this country. You see, when Pat left my office, he continued to serve in the U.S. Army. He is in Iraq today in a command position with major responsibilities for the medical care of our troops and the people of Iraq. He is a true American hero, as is his wife. They have given so much to this country.
I thank the Lord that they were spared that day; that they were able to continue in their service to the country, along with so many others, but I do remember those who worked right alongside her who were not so fortunate. That is what our gathering was about today. Every year on September 11 we remember the horror and shock of that day and the grief that followed. But we remember something else. We remember the tremendous sense of unity that enveloped our Nation.
Buck O'Neill was a man who was legendary in the Negro League as a baseball player. Of course, in those days, a Black man couldn't make it to the majors. He became a scout for the Chicago Cubs and signed, among other people, Hall of Famers Ernie Banks and Lou Brock. In 1962, he became the first African-American coach in Major League Baseball history. He wrote a newspaper column. He has passed away now, but he wrote a newspaper column about a year after the 9/11 attacks, and he said:
One thing about it is, the attacks brought us together. For a little while there after September 11, it didn't matter if you were Democrat or a Republican. It didn't matter if you were white or black. Yeah. We were Americans. We gave blood. We gave money. We cried. We all cried. That's the America we can be. This is a wonderful country.
He remembered from his youth some hateful things that were done to him because of his race. He said:
When I was a young man, I used to see the way hate ripped this country apart. A man would hate me just for the color of my skin. I didn't feel angry. I felt sorry for that man. I wanted to say to him ``Don't you know how great America would be if we could all just get along?'' That's what I saw after September 11. We all got along. I wish we could hold on to that feeling.
There were strong emotions today at the Pentagon, I am sure in New York, in Pennsylvania, and across the Nation as we remembered the seventh anniversary of 9/11. But let us remember 9/12. Let's remember this Nation when it did come together with its allies around the world, the strength that we felt here at home, and the projected strength we felt around the world. Those days can return, and they should return. It is up to each and every one of us, whether we are elected officials or people going to work every day to raise a family, to do our best to make that spirit of coming together after 9/11 return.
Mr. President, I yield the floor.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source