Posted on 09/21/2001 12:35:51 PM PDT by dpa5923
If I can, I would like to tell you about an extraordinary week I had.
On Monday the 17th, my Marines conducted military honors for Maj Horracks. He was the co-pilot of the aircraft that hit the 2nd towers.
We began honors by standing next to a memorial table set up in the church. We stood guard (if you will) while the family (wife and two very young children and his brother) received visitors and well wishers. The entire procession was too much for his daughter to bear.
After the mass, a bag piper played the Marines Hymn and we fired a 21 gun salute. After a gut wrenching rendering of taps we folded and presented flags to the mother and wife of Maj Horrack.
The Marines of the company volunteered for this duty and asked for no pay or acolytes.
On Tuesday the 18th and Wednesday the 19th a small group of Marines (4 and 6 with 1 Navy Corpsman both days) headed to New York to dig. We were not invited nor did we ask permission.
We carefully talk to the right people and moved to the right locations and were able to get to ground zero and begin digging.
On both days, our little group were the only "rescue workers" in ground zero in full camies. If you were there, you probably saw us.
I dug next to fire fighters who had been digging for days. I dug with my (gloved) hands and with shovels too large for the areas and too small for the job. I dug with men who refused to give up or quit.
I dug with heroes.
I manned a bucket brigade that moved buckets of dust and rock and metal almost too heavy to lift. I moved buckets with items still smoldering in them. I saw the futility of my actions and understood immediately the necessity of them. I worked with men who did not question the workload and never wavered from the daunting task in front of them.
I worked with heroes.
In one of the many buckets I saw a purse and a shoe and a tool box and an ID badge and a ripped shirt and an e-mail written early on the morning of the 11th and printed out the same day. It concerned new customers for some business which will never materialize. I was covered with dust and soot and my nostrils were filled with the smell of sulfur and smells originally unknown, now too familiar. I stood next to men who did not notice these things. They worked in spite of the difficulties and worked on hope and promises and commitments.
I worked with heroes.
I left in the evening and returned home. I saw my children sleeping and I looked at my boots, once black, now gray.
I stood tired and shaken by what I had seen, and I took solace in the fact I stood amongst heroes.
God Bless American and the NY Fire Department.
Unit Corps God Country
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.