‘Never forget’ 9/11 vow still means so much to so many - Boston Herald
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Nobody wanted to cancel cops 19 years ago today, said Debra Burlingame, who lost her brother in the 9/11 attacks.
Police, firefighters, EMTs, soldiers, chaplains, co-workers, the heroes on the four hijacked jets — they all confronted certain death to save others. But the defund the police movement, Burlingame said, has left her forlorn.
“This 9/11 anniversary feels like a bitter betrayal of what what America stood for that day,” Burlingame told the Herald. “So many didn’t run the other way. Firefighters hugged each other goodbye as they went up those stairwells. Cops, too.”
Andy Card, chief of staff to then President George W. Bush, said in today’s difficult times, it’s even more important to honor the dead.
“We all promised never to forget. I won’t forget. It’s deep in me,” said Card, a Holbrook native. “We have an obligation to remember and respect with gratitude those who died.”
He has the grim tally of those who perished on 9/11 memorized — 2,997 souls.
That includes 343 firefighters, 23 New York City police officers, 37 Port Authority officers and 55 military personnel.
“It’s important to recognize, no matter the circumstances, those who said they’ll be there for us,” said Card, who was on the front lines of the terrorist attack that day sticking to the president’s side. “Police have thick skin and big hearts. They show up to do their jobs — even if they’re not invited.”
Former Boston Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said he’s convinced “America has not forgotten” the heroism. But, he did say the “rhetoric” surrounding police officers needs to be put in perspective.
“The actions of a few should not taint the actions of 800,000,” said Bratton, who has also headed police departments in New York City and Los Angeles. “A lot of Americans in their quest to have racial justice are forgetting that the vast majority of cops are willing to risk their lives for citizens.”
FILE - In this Sept. 11, 2001, file photo, smoke rises from the burning twin towers of the World Trade Center after hijacked planes crashed into the towers, in New York City. The coronavirus pandemic has reshaped how the U.S. is observing the anniversary of 9/11. The terror attacks' 19th anniversary will be marked Friday, Sept. 11, 2020, by dueling ceremonies at the Sept. 11 memorial plaza and a corner nearby in New York. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)
FILE - In this Sept. 11, 2014, file photo, a woman places flowers in the inscribed names along the edge of the North Pool during memorial observances on the 13th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks on the World Trade Center in New York. The coronavirus pandemic has reshaped how the U.S. is observing the anniversary of 9/11. The terror attacks' 19th anniversary will be marked Friday, Sept. 11, 2020, by dueling ceremonies at the Sept. 11 memorial plaza and a corner nearby in New York. (AP Photo/Justin Lane, Pool, File)
FILE – In this Sept. 11, 2017, file photo, the Tribute in Light illuminates in the sky above the Lower Manhattan area of New York, as seen from across the Hudson River in Jersey City, N.J. The coronavirus pandemic has reshaped how the U.S. is observing the anniversary of 9/11. The terror attacks’ 19th anniversary will be marked Friday, Sept. 11, 2020, by dueling ceremonies at the Sept. 11 memorial plaza and a corner nearby in New York. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow, File)
In this Sept. 11, 2011, file photo, Spc. Angel Batista, 26, left to right, of Bloomingdale, N.J., Spc. Jacob Greene, 22, of Shreveport, La., and Sgt. Joe Altmann, 26, of Marshfield, Wisc., with the U.S. Army's 25th Infantry Division, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Battalion 27th Infantry Regiment based in Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, sit beneath a new American flag just raised to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks Sept. 11, 2011, at Forward Operating Base Bostick in Kunar province, Afghanistan. Nearly half of all Afghans want U.S. and NATO troops to leave Afghanistan once a peace deal to end the country's 18-year war is signed with the Taliban, according to a survey carried out by the Institute of War and Peace Studies. The survey conducted in 2019, between Nov. 23 and Dec. 20 has a 5% margin of error. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)
A field of hundreds of American flags. Commemorating veteran's day, memorial day or 9/11.
BOSTON, MA. - SEPTEMBER 11: Mike Crosby touches the memorial in the 9/11Contemplative Garden during the 17th Annual Massachusetts Commemorative Ceremonies on the Anniversary of September 11, 2001 in Boston Massachusetts on September 11, 2018 (Staff Photo By Faith Ninivaggi/Boston Herald)
This Sept. 11, 2017, file photo shows a man standing at the edge of a waterfall pool at ground zero during a ceremony on the 16th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in New York. Since September 11, 2001, the neighborhood at the base of the World Trade Center has been transformed by new construction, and washed over by a wave of tourism. But this week''s attack has reminded those who live, work, study and visit here of latent fears that this neighborhood would once again find itself in the crosshairs. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)
(091116 Boston, MA)- The 9/11 memorial at the Boston Public Garden, September 11, 2016. Boston Herald photo by Ryan McBride
‘Never Forget’: A woman lays flowers on the 9/11 memorial in the Public Garden.
IN HONOR: Members of the Corpus Christi Police Department Honor Guard perform a volley during a 9/11 Memorial Event at Sherrill Park in Corpus Christi, Texas. Flags in Texas were flown at half-staff yesterday to remember victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
(Boston, MA, 09/11/15). Firefighters from Ladder 17 and Engine 7 on Columbus Ave pause for a moment of silence in memory of the September 11, 2001 anniversary. Chief Michael Feely (cq) 2nd from right and firefighter Keith Condry (far right) join their fellow firefighters outside the station while a colleague (not shown) lowers the flag to half staff. Friday, September 11, 2015. Staff photo by Ted Fitzgerald
(Boston, MA, 05/21/15). Steve Milley of Sudbury (at right) places a flag in honor of his son Lieutenant Scott Milley, an Army Ranger killed in Afghanistan in 2010. Matt Anderson assists at left. Thousands of American flags are filling the Boston Common ahead of Memorial Day to honor MassachusettsÕ fallen heroes. In a special ceremony on Thursday morning, 219 flags will be added to the tribute, each one representing a Massachusetts man or woman who has died serving their country since the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Gov. Charlie Baker and Boston Mayor Marty Walsh will be speaking at the ceremony where the names will be read aloud. Thursday, May 21, 2015. Staff photo by Ted Fitzgerald
‘I FEEL A KINSHIP WITH THEM’: John Furse places his hand under the name of friend Jane Louise Simpkin yesterday at the Boston Garden memorial to 9/11 victims.
SOLEMN MARCH: New York City firefighters carry American flags during the 9/11 anniversary memorial service honoring the 343 firefighters lost at the World Trade Center on Sept 11, 2001.
CLEAR VIEW: The 9/11 attacks and their aftermath are well explained in ‘What Happened?’
‘INCREDIBLE’: The Bavis family’s 9/11 wrongful death lawsuit claims that Logan screeners could not identify Mace and did not know Osama bin Laden, above, was a threat to air travel.
That will be the message on this 9/11 in both New York City and at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Pennsylvania, where both President Trump and Joe Biden are scheduled to appear. That’s where the 40 passengers and crew aboard the last of the hijacked jets rushed the cabin and took control crashing in Shanksville.
“Let’s roll,” was the rallying cry of the Flight 93 heroes that day. They probably saved the U.S. Capitol and changed the dynamic of the day.
That fighting spirit, says Burlingame, should compel national and local leaders to be equally courageous.
“There are a lot of cowards in Congress and statehouses right now,” the 66-year-old former TV producer said. “They are selling a bad message to our kids, who are not being taught to do critical thinking.”
Burlingame’s brother Charles “Chic” Burlingame III was the pilot of American Airlines Flight 77 that was hijacked out of Washington Dulles International Airport in Dulles, Va., and flown into the Pentagon on 9/11.
It hit about an hour after both American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 — both out of Logan International Airport in Boston — slammed into the north and south towers of the World Trade Center in Manhattan 18 minutes apart beginning at 8:45 a.m.
Chic Burlingame was a former Navy fighter pilot who flew F-14s off aircraft carriers. “People used to say he was in the movie ‘Top Gun’ because he was so handsome,” Debra Burlingame said.
But the cancel culture and defunding movement, she said, won’t keep her from honoring his memory — and others — this 9/11 anniversary.
“I’ll think about all the magnificent people who died and all the magnificent people who rushed to the scene in New York City, the Pentagon and in Shanksville,” she said. “That day was a triumph of decency over depravity.”
(8/10/18) A hand out photo of Debra Burlingame and her late brother Charles Burlingame. Charles Burlingame was the pilot of the plane that was hijacked and crashed into the Pentagon. (Photo courtesy of the family.)
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