This land is your land, this land is my land... Let this day belong to you and me. Today is the 12th Anniversary of 9/11.
In the summer of 2012, a single American Flag was placed in a memory box after it was flown over the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington D.C., at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, at operations offices in Newark, Ventnor and Red Bank and 104 floors up at the top of our new One World Trade Center in Manhattan. It was handed to my friend as he retired from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The flag presented to him, in the traditional triangular fold, was placed under glass after it was raised by bands of brothers and sisters in law enforcement during special ceremonies at every field office he had ever worked at. After the Boston Marathon Terror Attack I wrote about this friend and his flag in a Blog Post to celebrate 'Boston Strong.' His story takes on new meaning today and a different kind of importance...
As the third fold of the flag was made at each individual site, every ceremonial team stopped for a few moments to honor and remember the successes of my friend as he prepared to retire from the ranks after 26 years of service. The gesture was so moving and fitting that my heart still races every time I write about it.
One hundred thirty of us who love and respect this man made our way to the Molly Pitcher Inn in Red Bank NJ to honor him and his life's work because his intelligence gathering, investigative genius and instincts helped him assess and solve some of the most daunting and challenging FBI cases of our time.
In short, his responsibilities which spanned the globe saved countless lives, thwarted planned attacks directed at innocent citizens inside transit hubs, tunnels, bridges, office buildings and across the land. His work brought criminals and terrorists to justice. Learning all these incredible facts about him made it an afternoon like no other.
We started the day to the roar of foot-stomping laughter as "Joe - the Master of Ceremonies" held up a giant mocked-up FBI Wanted Poster with my face on it! It was a gag I actually deserved as a form of payback which I'll have to explain on another day. But yes - I was punked!
Then as an invited guest and speaker, I had the privilege to say "thank you," not only to the guest of honor, but to a room full of remarkable heroes who get up every day to protect you and me wherever we work, live, travel or play.
For ten minutes, I spoke from a grateful heart and served as the face of moms and citizens everywhere as I thanked him and everyone of his colleagues in that hall for their unyielding commitment to others inside a career that is a vocation rooted in the tenets that put the health, welfare, safety and security of our nation and citizens of all nations above all else.
Every speaker rose with enormous emotion to share poignant stories from the silent and dangerous trenches of their lives and to explain how they were inspired by him, his values, work ethic, consistent & reliable leader behaviors, knowledge-sharing, as well as how his intense personal interest in the success of others motivated many.
Our Subject Matter Expert in international terrorism is dedicated to excellence and a mentor to all. They stated his many gifts, skills and competencies - including his approach to teamwork and collaboration - made him a great leader.
Men and women lined up to work for him because they always had confidence any risk mitigation strategy and action plan created by him would be well thought out and executed flawlessly. Since lives were at stake inside every mission he'd focus on details and bring his determination, calm voice and steady hand to every responsibility the Bureau handed him.
His accomplishments are astonishing by every standard! For starters this ever-so-humble University of Pennsylvania Wharton Graduate and former New Jersey police officer managed and helped solve the February 1993 World Trade Center Bombing Case.
The '93 Bombing (the 1st WTC attack that few noticed) altered the lives of those of us paying attention as we worked and lived in the Hudson River corridor where this attack was planned for three years and executed.
My friend never ever talked about his work or assignments - nor are these career professionals supposed to - That's why I literally fell off my couch watching a 1993 WTC Bombing Documentary on the History Channel 13 years ago.
Oh my gosh! There was our best friend profiled as an American Hero who had managed the entire investigation. None of us - not one - in his inner-circle had had the slightest clue. It was an unbelievable moment. The phones in our family rang with pride for months confirming a second reason why he would never talk about his work or any other secret for that matter.
At this retirement celebration, his peers explained how he and the FBI teams he managed risked their lives to track wanted terrorists - including Ramzi Yousef - across oceans to bring them back to the U.S. so they could be charged and convicted for their individual contributions to the '93 attack launched from Jersey City NJ which left six fellow citizens dead and 1,042 injured in the rubble beneath the horrific 10-story gaping hole they intentionally created with explosives in a parking garaged underneath the World Trade Center.
At this event, he was also honored for leveraging his skills and subject matter expertise to help solve the Oklahoma City Bombing case of April 1995, which killed 168 innocent people, including 19 children - all under the age of 6. Half of that building collapsed seconds after a 5,000 pound truck bomb detonated.
Who could believe that I'd find myself at an event like this after I had quietly kept Charles Poster's iconic Pulitzer Prize winning photo in my wallet since 1995? It was THE picture of Oklahoma Fire Chief Chris Fields carrying America's Beautiful Baby Girl - Baylee Almon - away from the ruins of the Murrah Building.
I was raised to understand that if you ignore history, it has a terrible tendency to repeat itself. I kept her memory alive in my daily life to remind myself that forgetting Baylee's death and the Oklahoma Bombing was not an option. How could we forget her after we all failed to understand the magnitude of what was started in Downtown Manhattan a stone's throw away from the Hudson River in 1993?
Our enemies warned that they would return and come again and on 9/11 they did...
More trinkets, humorous moments and awards arrived at this event inside the Molly Pitcher Inn. Suddenly the mood in the room changed as the crowd stood together in somber silence… there was one honor left before closing the ceremony. The guests quietly saluted this man of honor and integrity while explaining to the audience how he had leveraged his life's work and his global experiences to piece together complex and important key elements for the 9/11 investigation.
None of us could take our tear-filled eyes off that podium as this quiet man with an important job was honored as a giant among his colleagues and peers from across the nation. I've been recruiting high caliber talent around the globe for 27 years and I can tell you that the end of a career does not get better than this.
The afternoon was both exhilarating and emotionally draining all at once because we were all thrown back to where we were in those early moments of those hard times which are etched in our minds for eternity.
It felt as if some of the terrible chapters over the past two decades were staring back at us demanding new choices and attitudes because it was time - it was time to put these experiences in their proper place in our lives.
For FBI agents in this room who had solved challenges around the globe, I couldn't begin to imagine where they had been, what they had seen or what they were thinking now. My mind had already taken me back to that commuter ferry - participating in that 9/11 Boatlift that I wrote about in my blog post earlier in the week.
For me aside from NYC in 1993 & on 9/11, I also found myself thinking back to London during the summer of 2007 when bombs exploded across the United Kingdom. One of them placed at Trafalgar Square which was up the street from the Royal Horseguards Hotel where my husband and I were vacationing.
Who could believe the U.K. was in lock-down, leaving thousands of us racing for the light of day as another public transit system & another city was completely shut-down? In the chaos the common language of law enforcement successfully ushered me, my husband and millions of others home to safety.
I admit the culmination of these events which played out inside the routine of our daily lives over two decades shattered my sense of security for a while. I often got upset thinking about what kind of world my generation would leave for the kids? But what I witnessed during this retirement event changed all that.
The extraordinary talent in that room convinced me to make the choice to never to be afraid again. Never - not ever.
As we all honor and remember those who were savagely taken from us on this 12th Anniversary of 9/11, let the day serve as another important reminder. Perhaps it's a new day - a date to celebrate that there are brave and amazing men and women working today and everyday on behalf of the interests of the United States of America around the globe.
These career law enforcement professionals are smart, strong, trained, educated, determined and disciplined - just like my friend. They are waking up ready and willing every single day to make absolutely sure our freedom to enjoy our daily lives will not be taken from us no matter what threats need to be mitigated by them and other agencies around the world.
This land is your land, this land is my land... Let this day belong to you and me. God Bless America.
