Blog Heap of Links for the day 11 September 2015

…When I heard about the plane that when down in Pennsylvania, I knew without being told that the passengers had fought back. Somehow they had heard what had happened to the other planes, and they weren’t going to let themselves be turned into a giant missile. That was one of few positive (albeit grim) notes from the day. The other positives were the countless stories of heroism in New York City, “America’s Mayor” Giuliani, and the fact that (almost) all Americans were united at least temporarily.…

…Bretegne and her handler being honored by BarkBox with a trip to New York City. According to this, Bretagne is the last known surviving rescue dog from 9/11. She and her owner/ handler Denise Corliss were part of the Texas Task Force 1, which was deployed to Ground Zero to help with search and rescue in the aftermath of 9/11.…

…I was at my desk in Providence, RI, when I heard the first reports of a “small plane” hitting the World Trade Center. Seemed odd, but not out of the realm of possibility.

Morning news shows interrupted coverage as the murky facts began to emerge.…

Right after the attacks, Jason, a former Marine, father of five, and a law student, took off TOWARDS the chaos. After driving his vehicle as far as he could, he parked and started running on foot in the direction of the towers. He was caught on video by several cameras on city streets, a blur of fatigues running through the streets while hundreds of terrified New Yorkers were running in the opposite direction.

Approaching Ground Zero, Jason later said he was determined to save lives. “It was my duty to do something,” he explains. “I felt compelled to assist in any way that I could.” …

Jason, who had crawled into a small hole in the wreckage, barely big enough for the Marine to inch his way through, heard a voice answering his call. …

…memorials to Fr. Mychal Judge - incredibly moving.

From YouTube: Aired on September 3, 2006 on The Discovery Channel 2007. Inside The Twin Towers. This film re-creates a minute-by-minute account of what happened inside the twin towers of the World Trade Center on September 11th, 2001. Narrated by Terrence Stamp.

A substantial portion of the South Tower’s workforce had already gotten out, thanks to Rescorla’s efforts, by the time the second plane, United Airlines Flight 175, struck the South Tower at 9:02:59 AM. Just under an hour later, as the stream of evacuees came to an end, Rescorla called his best friend Daniel Hill on his cell phone, and told him that he was going to make a final sweep. Then the South Tower collapsed. …

Most powerful shafts of light EVER projected from Earth are beamed into the Manhattan sky in spectacular 9/11 commemoration as America pauses to remember…

What is it about an unspeakable catastrophe that brings out the best in ordinary human beings?…

Commemorating September 11 is not some ghoulish exercise of reveling in grief and tragedy.

We remember quite simply so that we do not forget. We do not forget where we came from, how we got here, who we are. And yes, who our enemy is.…

I do not yet have the distance of history to mercifully blur the memory. I remember the crystal clear blue sky on the morning of 9-11 when the Earth became soaked with tears and night fell on a different world.

I can never forget the images of fire and ashes and bent steel or the sounds of our national anthem playing at Buckingham Palace and the sorrow written on the faces of our closest allies in the middle hour of our grief. …

Longtime readers of this blog will recognize this post, as I have published it here every 9-11 since 2006 in honor of Mr. Mardikian, and all victims of the 9-11 terror attacks, as part of DC Roe’s 9-11 remembrance project. I thought this year about doing another post for another victim, but decided it would be too painful, as the memories of what happened that day are still so fresh and raw for many, myself included. …