Twenty-five years ago, our nation was changed forever; radical terrorists hijacked four planes and extinguished thousands of lives. We will forever remember those who lost their lives in Manhattan, the Pentagon and in that field in Pennsylvania.
We will remember those brave first responders who ran into danger to help save their fellow citizens, and we will remember all those who volunteered in the aftermath.
Just as everyone else who lived through that day, I will never forget the shock and feeling of dread. Within a few short days, I was on my way to Manhattan not as part of the rescue effort, but as a police chief bringing relief packages and hundreds of thousands of dollars to the families of fallen police officers.
I was joined by Deputy Chief Murry Roach and Officers Steven Dutcher and Robert Wich. When we arrived, we saw New Yorkers helping each other; it didn’t matter your race, sex, religion or political ideology. We were Americans before anything else. Patriotism exploded throughout the nation.
As a nation, we were rocked back onto our heels, but we weren’t down; one thing to know is that America never backs away, and we always move forward. The terrorists who attacked us...