Posted on 09/06/2006 8:52:24 PM PDT by Mr. Silverback
In the next few days you’ll hear a lot about the nearly 3,000 people killed on September 11, 2001. I’d like to tell you about just two of them, two people whose names I look for every time I see a list of the casualties. Let me tell you about Ted’s wife and Ryan and Dylan’s dad.
Barbara Olson started out as a ballerina and ended up as a famous lawyer. She danced with the San Francisco Ballet and the Harkness Ballet in New York City, then moved on to Hollywood because working as an assistant producer would allow her to save up for law school. She worked for Stacy Keach’s production company and HBO before going to Yeshiva University. She eventually served as an Assistant U.S. attorney and as chief investigative counsel for the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee, where she looked into Travelgate and Filegate. After the publication of her bestseller “Hell to Pay” she became a frequent guest on TV political shows to represent the conservative point of view.
Her husband Ted said she was a popular guest because she was “very direct” but at the same time “very pleasant.” She could disagree without a trace of rancor, a sunny smile on her beautiful face. But she wasn’t just a talking head. “She was always full of energy, sparkling all the time,” her husband told Newsday, adding that “his three small granddaughters would follow her around ‘like little ducks’” and “thought she was the best thing in the world.”
Barbara was on Flight 77 because she had shifted her schedule to spend more time with Ted for his birthday. He talked to her just before she died. Ted Olson was the Solicitor General at the time, and she called to tell him they’d been hijacked, asking him what she should tell the pilot. They had time to discuss personal matters and reassure each other, and then, he said, “the connection was broken.” Not long after that, Flight 77 struck the Pentagon.
John Moran also had an ambition to be a lawyer and held a law degree from Fordham University. But firefighting was the family business and more suited to his personality, so he joined the FDNY. In an irony that must be especially painful for her, John met his wife Kim on September 11, 1990. His fire station was across the street from her apartment. “I just fell in love with him instantly,” she said a few days after his death, while she and their sons, 7 year old Ryan and 4 year old Dylan, were still hoping he’d come home.
John didn’t have to be in the World Trade Center that day. A Battalion Chief with 22 years of service, he was part of the department’s Special Operations Command, which oversees special rescue companies, fireboats, hazmat units and major incidents. He had just finished a shift, but when the call came in, he “jumped in the truck and away they went,” Kim said.
John’s funeral was conducted by his uncle, Father Paul Moran. John was lost he said, on “a mission of love.” Mayor Giuliani asked for the mourners to give John a standing ovation and said he wanted the Moran boys “to understand for their entire life that their father is a great man.” His brother Michael, a firefighter who survived serving at the Trade Center—and later became famous for defiantly telling Osama bin-Laden to come to Rockaway and kiss his “royal Irish ass”—said “I didn't see him there that day, but now I see him all the time.”
But the best eulogy a man could ask for was what his relatives told Newsday just a few days after his death. Kim Moran said, “He's the love of my life…a wonderful father, a great husband. There's nobody more generous than John.” His cousin, Democrat Congressman Joe Crowley described him as “a Viking Irishman who has calves thicker than my thighs, the heart of lion and touch of a teddy bear.”
I picked John and Barbara because they were both members of Free Republic, an internet forum I’ve posted to for years, but I didn’t know either of them. I didn’t even cross paths with them and “know” them in the online sense, as far as I remember. But that’s irrelevant. I could have picked any of those we lost that day and found something glorious or generous or beautiful about them that would have amazed you the way John’s bravery and Barbara’s joy and determination amaze me.
We didn’t lose almost 3,000 people that day. We lost one wonderful person at a time, almost 3,000 times.
In a sense, Giuliani was right on that bright September afternoon when he said that we had lost “more than we can bear.”
George W. Bush, September 20, 2001 43rd President of US
We will never forget or forgive...
Thank you Mr. Silverback.
Thank, Mr. S. Sometimes it's easy to remember the number, and forget that each one represents a real person with a real life and a real family. NEVER FORGET.
Agree and just reading two thread this morning already has the tears flowing.
.
Thank you for your kindness & your CLARITY, Mr. Silverback.
RICK RESCORLA, Lifesaver
Battle of IA DRANG-1965
Bombing of WORLD TRADE CENTER-1993
Airstrikes on WORLD TRADE CENTER-2001
.
here's an Enya-accompanied tribute. It was the one I was really looking for.
http://www.pentagonattack911.com/wtc.htm
caution, 7MB file
I almost posted that one, but it was so long I figured everyone would get tired of watching before it was finished. It was very good and just shows why we must never forget! Thanks for posting it.
bttt
Barbara Olson was a Happy Warrior!! She will always be missed. Mr. Moran is a HERO.
You're welcome. I was glad to write it.
Thanks very much, brother.
BCM bump
You're welcome.
Your'e welcome. I'll never forget.
New tagline! I'll see what else I can do.
I really miss Barbara Olsen ...what a bright woman
The least I can do for two heroes proved in liberating strife--you and Rick.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.