Posted on 12/11/2001 4:29:21 AM PST by mdittmar
Exactly three months after the suicide attacks on New York and the Pentagon, people around the world are taking part in ceremonies and memorials to remember the victims. More than 70 countries that lost citizens in the 11 September attacks have answered a call from President George W Bush to commemorate the estimated 3,900 people who died.
At the White House, the president will lead the playing of the national anthem at exactly 1346 GMT - the moment the first of two planes struck the World Trade Center in New York three months ago.
US embassy staff in Tokyo and Japanese officials were among the first on Tuesday morning to commemorate the victims of the deadly suicide strikes.
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi released a statement, underlining his pledge to fight international terrorism and provide support for the reconstruction of Afghanistan.
In Australia, diplomats gathered at the residence of the American ambassador and mourned the deaths by planting a symbol of life: an oak sapling descended from a tree planted at the embassy in 1943.
At the US embassy in Bangkok, staff observed a minute of silence.
There were similar ceremonies in Manila and Jakarta.
Later in the day, large crowds are expected to gather at New York's Times Square for an event in which electronic billboards will flash patriotic messages.
Recovery workers, firefighters, and police officers will pay their respect at Ground Zero, where in recent days 20 more bodies have been discovered in the rubble of the World Trade Center.
They were carried away on stretchers wrapped in the American flag.
At the Pentagon, there will be a separate ceremony three months to the moment a hijacked plane slammed into the building, killing 189 people.
This happened 34 minutes after the second plane hit the World Trade Center.
Pennsylvania, where a fourth airplane crashed after passengers scuffled with the hijackers, is holding its own memorial.
There is even going to be a tribute in outer space - Nasa is planning a special event aboard the International Space Station, where American and Russian astronauts will play their national anthems.
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more!
Their blood has washed out of their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave'
From the terror of flight and the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
The kids and I prayed at 8:46 for our nation: may God bless, protect, and defend us against the forces of evil. We prayed for our President, that he would follow the course God desires for our country and that He would bless him with strength, wisdom, integrity, honor, courage, and fortitude as the Leader of the Free World. As a military family, we also prayed for the fighting men in the lion's den on the other side of the world and for those (our neighbors, possibly my own husband) who are preparing to leave their families in the days ahead to continue the mission. God bless the United States of America.
I picked up that Time issue on the newsstand this weekend, and quickly put it back. I don't ever want to see those pictures again. This morning at 8:46, I was walking to work just like I did on that day, except whereas on that day I walked right through the Trade Center, today I was in Battery Park, south of what is now "ground zero". A church bell started ringing, and I took off my cap and said a silent prayer for the families of the ones we lost. I still shake my head just thinking about it.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
I just learned this week that one of my ancestors was a Defender of our country in the War of 1812. What makes this relevant is that he was a 44 year old shopkeeper whose daily language was German. When the British invaded Baltimore and started shelling Fort McHenry, the future of our country was vividly on the line. Ordinary people like my ancestor were expected to leave their homes and join the Militia. Over 3000 men from the Baltimore area marched toward the British who had landed and the rest is history. (To coin a Phrase!)
A history lesson hit me yesterday. The WH was first inhabited during John Adams' presidency, which occurred from 1796 to 1800. The Brits burned the WH in the War of 1812. We didn't have our symbolic seat of government sitting pretty for very long before the Brits were back to hack it up. I'm sure the former colonists' memories were pretty long on the subject of what a war with Britain could signify, if lost. It had to be a big incentive to bear arms against them less than two decades later. I'm glad your ancestor was there to stand up for the fledgling USA.
All things considered, it's kind of amazing that Bush was right in saying, "America has no truer friend than Great Britain," on September 20. I love the way America has turned some of her worst enemies into some of her best allies (e.g., Japan, Germany, Great Britain).
Then, do Thirteen Months, Fourteen Months. Rinse and Repeat. And Sept. 11th, of course, becomes a Kleenex Holiday.
Are we supposed to stop for a Weepathon on the 11th of every month, forever? If they want to conduct some kind of ceremony every month, here's what I suggest: at 8:46am, bring a terrorist to the steps of the Pentagon and strangle him slowly on live TV.
That would be meaningful and productive.
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