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Gov. Kasich recalls events of Sept. 11, 2001
By Marc Kovac
COLUMBUS
Gov. John Kasich recounted his visit to New York City in the days after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Before an audience near the Statehouse on Wednesday, the 12-year anniversary of the “attack on our souls,” the governor described the firefighters and emergency responders who carried microphones on long poles, “hoping and praying that they would find life.”
He remembered the hastily drawn pictures schoolchildren placed on fencing surrounding the World Trade Center rubble.
And he told about the messages written by others in the thick dust that covered the windows and walls of nearby buildings that remained.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Kasich said.
The governor spoke during a midday service in the chambers of the Columbus City Council, honoring the nearly 3,000 people who died in New York and Washington, D.C., and in a rural Pennsylvania field.
Mayor Michael Coleman said he was in a meeting at the time of the attacks, but told attendees to go home as city police and emergency responders helped evacuate downtown buildings.
“That day changed the nation,” Coleman said. “We should not ever take for granted our freedoms. We should not ever take for granted our security and we should never take for granted our first responders, who are there each and every time for all of us.”
Meanwhile, the anniversary arrived amid changes at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pa., where construction started Tuesday on a new visitor center.
The families of the passengers and crew aboard United Flight 93 recalled their loved ones as heroes for their unselfish and quick actions.
The plane was hijacked with the likely goal of crashing it into the White House or Capitol, but passengers tried to overwhelm the attackers, and the plane crashed into a field. All aboard died.
“In a period of 22 minutes, our loved ones made history,” said Gordon Felt, president of the Families of Flight 93, whose brother, Edward, was a passenger.
Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell attended the ceremony to break ground on the next phase of the memorial, which will include an education center.
“This memorial we are surrounded by today protects and honors the remains of these heroes and ensures that generations from now, the story of Flight 93 will still remind and inspire those who come after us,” Jewell said.