Surrounded by the gray-faced reverence and solemnity that have grown like healthy garden flowers around the magnetic date of Sept. 11, members of the Fire Dept., Police Dept. and a smattering of residents assembled at Fire Station 1 just before 7 this morning to honor the lost lives of nearly 3,000 persons victimized in separate flying attacks by suicide-bent Islamic terrorists.
Many Americans regard the Islamic assault as the premier tragedy of their lifetimes.
For that reason, fire and law enforcement agencies across the nation stop for about three minutes every year on this morniong to remember – and embed in the minds of all – the evil that befell America.
It is the single date of the calendar year when all of uniformed America pauses.
At Fire Station 1, Battalion Chief Ken Powell, in charge of the department’s A shift, facing a phalanx of dark-uniformed firefighters and police officers, ordered the men and women to attention while the American flag was raised to half-mast.
