WEBVTT

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I worked for , I was an air force

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reservist at the pentagon and fly for

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United Airlines And so on 9-11

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strangely enough I was not at the

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Pentagon , which I had been until

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September 10 And I was not flying for

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United Airlines , which I was going to

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do on the 12th . I was at home enjoying

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a day off . Um , the phone rang and it

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was my next door neighbor , Really nice

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old guy and he was

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just just really confused on the

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telephone . He said dave turn on your

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tv , something has happened , something

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has happened and he wouldn't , he

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couldn't talk , he couldn't speak so

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quickly turned on the television And it

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was 903 when I turned on the TV And I

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remember it vividly because as soon as

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I turned on the TV , the very first

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image I saw was United Flight 175 going

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into the tower and in that

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verse but second I knew it was the

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United Airlines plane just because I

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saw as it as it rolled to roll to the

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left . I believe it was you could see

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the underside . It was a very , very

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distinct United paint job and what ,

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but I will never be able to describe

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the , the kick in the gut that I

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felt . It was more than that . I was

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surprised I was able to remain standing .

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I sat there and just believe initially

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not knowing what to do , but I knew

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that the United States was under attack .

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You don't fly a commercial airplane on

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a clear blue sky day into into a

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building unless you're doing it

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deliberately . So uh huh I knew we were

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under attack but felt completely

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helpless like like everyone else in the

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world , I imagine shortly thereafter of

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course the pentagon was hit . That's

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when I called my office at the pentagon

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to see if everybody was okay and the

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phone just kept ringing and ringing and

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ringing in and I had this just this God

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awful feeling because of course the

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pentagon is a huge building but I had

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no idea where we're in the building the

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airplane , it struck for someone who's

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been trained as a military officer and

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and as a , as a pilot in general ,

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pilots like to be in control . And and

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that was a day where where no one felt

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in control in the fog of that time

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period . It wasn't until the next day I

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was able to get any names . And as it

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turned out I knew three of the crew

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members On two of the United Airplanes .

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My reserve job at that time , I worked

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as a presidential advance agent for Air

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Force one . And so the very next day I

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went into the pentagon and help clean

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up our office , you can still smell the

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burning jet fuel that was soot

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everywhere in the hallway and in our

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offices . And so we just did a lot of

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cleanup to try to to get back back on

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her feet . Um While I was in the office

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helping clean up on the 12th , my boss

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came to me and said , Dave , I need

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you to travel . The president is going

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to be traveling up to ground zero . And

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of course there was no air travel ,

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everything was grounded . And so I

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thought , okay , I'm going to drive to

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new york , not that big a deal . And

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our job is to go out ahead of the

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president and set up all the , all the

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advanced work for Air Force one . So I

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thought I was going to go to new york

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to do that . But in reality , the

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office sent me out to a small airport

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in the Maryland mountains near Camp

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David . And for the next three days I

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prepared that little tiny airport for

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the President's arrival . And if you

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remember from from the days after 9 11 ,

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President Bush flew to ground zero I

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think three days later and had that

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famous moment on the rubble with the

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firemen . Well , when he left ground

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zero , he didn't return to Washington .

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He flew in a different airplane out

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into the mountains near Camp David

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where I was with some other White House

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people . And we blacked out the airport

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and the president came in and landed in

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an unmarked airplane . We put him on a

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helicopter and he went off to Camp

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David . He convened his war council

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there . And that was the night that he

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uh made the decision to go to war

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against the taliban and go to

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Afghanistan . So I was on the ramp at

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this airport in Hagerstown Maryland and

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had the um the

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unique , unique spot in history

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where I watched the president get off

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the airplane after he left ground zero .

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He still had that same gray jacket on

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then the dust on his shoes . Um and

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when he uh the President Bush was a

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very fit man and had boundless energy .

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And when I watched him come down the

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stairs and he walked right past me on

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his way to the helicopter , he had the ,

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the definition of the weight of the

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world on his shoulders is the only way

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I've been able to describe it . It

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looked like every step that he took

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look like his feet weighed a ton . And

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he normally would look in the eye and

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give you a great smile and a hi , how

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are you ? And his head was down deep in

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thought and he just turned his head to

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the side to me and nodded and closed

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his eyes . That was as much energy as

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he had . And and I was looking at the

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loneliest man in the world at that

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point , it was something I'll

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never forget . It's important that we

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remember . It's even more

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important that we never forget . You

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know , when I was a kid , my dad who

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had of course lived through World War

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Two lamented that people had forgotten

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about Pearl Harbor . And as a kid , you

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know , you kind of roll your eyes when

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you listen to your dad tells stories

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from the old days . But interestingly

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enough , I'm that man now , I am my

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father and I don't lament the

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people have forgotten about 9:11

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because I do think that people remember ,

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But we're only 10 years away from it

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and inexpensive history , that's a

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microsecond .

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Our world will never be the same

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because of that day . That is his as

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just as big a moment as paul Harbor was

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to our parents generation . Um ,

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and the types of changes that the world

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has undergone since then because of

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that day are still being written .

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It'll be , it'll be written for another

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generation . But we've got to remember ,

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um , our vulnerability .

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It doesn't mean that we become fortress

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America , but we've got to realize that

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that there are forces in the world that

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don't think that the United States is a

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great place to live that don't believe

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in our way of life that don't believe

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in the freedoms that we espouse and

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we've got to be smart about it . We

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can't be naive . Um , but we

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surely surely must remember the

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the sacrifices that have been made .

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Remember the losses and the tragedy of

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that day . You know , what's

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interesting is we get ready for the 9

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11 commemoration here at Manas , ah the

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committee who's working on the event

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was showing us draft storyboards that

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will be displayed that day and there's

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gonna be one storyboard for each of the

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hijacked airplanes on that day . And I

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was absolutely blown away

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at my emotional reaction When the first

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storyboard flashed up on the screen and

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it was United 175 . That plane that

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went into the tower at 903 . Mhm .

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The wave of emotion I felt was just as

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dramatic as it was 10 years ago . Uh

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huh . On the storyboard there were

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pictures of the crew members and

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passengers and the lead flight

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attendant on that airplane was a friend

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of mine , Al Marshawn . And when I

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looked at the storyboard , that's out

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of everything on that board , that's

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what I saw was Al's picture and it just

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absolutely bowled me over and I never

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want to forget Al Marshawn . I never

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want to forget Jason Dahl . I never

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want to forget Tony infant . I never

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want to forget Leroy homer . And for

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everybody in the 93 countries on earth ,

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who , who lost a loved one in 9 11

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may make people in 93 countries plus

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around the world , never forget um

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just how , how the

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entire world was affected . Ah

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there were no borders . That wasn't an

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attack against the United States . It

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was an attack , it was an attack

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against humanity . And I hope that we

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always remember that