Something everyone should see

Everyone should see this!

The link doesn't work, click on e-mail under the title.

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STOP BY AND BUMP THE FUNDRAISER THREAD-
It is in the breaking news sidebar!

http://64.177.83.63/liberty/email.htm

Thank you for the reminder, I promise you I will never forget.

In memory of Kevin Murphy:

http://memorial.mmc.com/pgBio.asp?ID=196

Miss ya dude.

I won't ever forget.

Bump for later

Another e-mail from my nephew, same day.

Very moving piece that I thought you all would like to read. The USO Tour came here but the main

show was at ARCENT (Army Central Command) which is about 5 miles from CENTAF (Central Air Force

Command) where I am located. A pain to get there and back due to security checks. I knew some

Celebs would come to CENTAF so I stayed here. I really only wanted to meet Robert De'Niro but, Fagetabowdit.

If I knew the WTC trio was with the group I would have made the effort.

Clay

Subject: FW: A Request From Baghdad

All --

Christy Ferer is a 9/11 widow who recently was a member of a group of
celebrities (including Robert DeNiro and Kid Rock, among others) that took
an Armed Forces Entertainment Office and USO-sponsored trip to Iraq to show
support for the soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines still over there.
Following is an e-note she sent her escorts about the experience; in her
cover note, she said she intends to submit it to the NY Times for
publication. It is really powerful, and very moving, and will make you
proud that you have chosen to serve your country, and proud to be an
American. Enjoy...and thanks as always for all you do for America's Air
Force!
Brig Gen Ron Rand [Director of AF Public Affairs in a note to some former AF public affairs officers. --FJ]

When I told friends about my pilgrimage to Iraq to thank the US troops,
reaction was underwhelming at best. Some were blunt. "Why are YOU going
there?" They could not understand why it was important for me, a 9/11 widow
to express my support for the men and women stationed today in the gulf.

But the reason seemed clear to me. 200,000 troops have been sent halfway
around the world to stabilize the kind of culture that breeds terrorists
like those whom I believe began World War III on September 11, 2001.
Reaction was so politely negative that I began to doubt my role on the first
USO / Tribeca Institute tour into newly occupied Iraq where, on average, a
soldier a day is killed.

Besides, with Robert De Niro, Kid Rock, Rebecca and Johns Stamos, Wayne
Newton, Gary Senise, and Lee Ann Wolmac who needed me?

Did they really want to hear about my husband, Neil Levin, who went to work
as director of New York Port Authority on Sept.11th and never came home? How
would they relate to the two other widows traveling with me? Ginny Bauer, a
New Jersey homemaker and the mother of three who lost her husband, David, and
former marine Jon Vigiano who lost his only sons, Jon, a firefighter and
Joe, a policeman.

As we were choppered over deserts that looked like bleached bread crumbs I
wondered if I'd feel like a street hawker, passing out Port Authority pins
and baseball caps as I said "thank you" to the troops. Would a hug from me
mean anything at all in the presence of the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders and a
Victoria Secrets model?

Arriving at the first "meet and greet" made me weep. (why?) Arrmed with
m16s and saddlebags of water in 120 degree heat the soldiers swarmed over
the stars for photos and autographs.

When it was announced that a trio of 9/11 family members was also in the
tent it was as if a psychic cork on an emotional dam was popped.

Soldiers from every corner of New York, Long Island and Queens rushed toward
us to express their condolences. Some wanted to touch us, as if they needed
a physical connection to our sorrow and for some living proof for why they
were there. One mother of two from Montana told me she signed up because of
9/11. Dozens of others told us the same thing. One young soldier showed me
his metal bracelet engraved with the name of a victim he never knew and that
awful date none of us will ever forget.

In fact at every encounter with the troops there would be a surge of
reservists -- firefighters and cops including many who had worked the rubble
of Ground Zero, came to exchange a hometown hug. Their glassy eyes still do
not allow anyone to penetrate too far inside to the place where their trauma
is lodged; the trauma of a devastation far greater than anyone who hadn't
been there could even imagine. It's there in me, too. I had forced my way
downtown on that awful morning, convinced that I could find Neil beneath the
rubble.

What I was not prepared for was to have soldiers show us the World Trade
Center memorabilia they'd carried with them into the streets of Baghdad.
Others had clearly
been holding in stories of personal 9/11 tragedies which had made them
enlist.

USO handlers moved us from one corner to the next so everyone could meet us.
One fire brigade plucked the 9/11 group from the crowd, transporting us to
their
fire house to call on those who had to stand guard during the Baghdad
concert. It was all about touching us and feeling the reason they were in
this hell. Back at Saddam Hussein airport Kid Rock turned a "meet and greet"
into an impromptu concert in a steamy airport hangar before 5000 troops.

Capt. Vargas from the Bronx tapped me on the back . He enlisted in the Army
after some of his wife's best friends were lost at the World Trade
Center. When he
glimpsed the piece of recovered metal from the Towers that I had been
showing to a group of soldiers he grasped for it as if it were the Holy
Grail. Then he handed
it to Kid Rock who passed the precious metal through the 5000 troops in the
audience. They lunged at the opportunity to touch the steel that symbolized
what so many of them felt was the purpose of their mission-which puts them
at risk every day in the 116 degree heat and not knowing if a sniper was
going to strike at anytime.

Looking into that sea of khaki gave me chills even in that blistering heat.
To me, those troops were there to avenge the murder of my husband and 3
thousand others. When I got to the microphone I told them we had not made
this journey for condolences but to thank them and to tell them that the
families of 9/11 think of them every day. They lift our hearts. The crowd
interrupted me with chants of " USA, USA, USA." Many wept.

What happened next left no doubt that the troops drew inspiration from our
tragedies. When I was first asked to speak to thousands of troops in Quatar,
after Iraq, I wondered if it would feel like a "grief for sale" spectacle.

But this time I was quaking because I was to present the recovered WTC
recovered steel to General Tommy Franks. I quivered as I handed him the icy
gray block of steel. His great craggy eyes welled up with tears. The sea of
khaki fell silent. Then the proud four-star general was unable to hold back
the tears which streamed down his face on center stage before 4,000 troops.
As this mighty man turned from the spotlight to regain his composure I
comforted him with a hug.

Now, when do I return?

Very moving. Should be required viewing for the Democrats in Congress who always have a hundred reasons why we shouldn't do anything to defend ourselves and defeat our enemies.

Thank you so much. I've sent the link to everyone I know. Everyone should see this...

bttt

Thank you for posting, a humbling reminder.

BTTT!!

bump

bttt

Don't miss this!

I will never forget, God Bless All

"We wish you were still with us Daddy. We miss you so much and we pray to you every night. I wish you could still watch me play baseball and have a catch with me in the backyard. You were the best Daddy two little kids could ever have. We want to thank you for all that you did for us when you were with us. We love you so and we are never going to forget our special memories of you. Love you lots forever,"

"Caitlyn and Connor Murphy"

Went to the website you posted, and the above brought tears in my eyes.

God Bless Kevin Murphy and his Loved ones.

Never Forget