Patriot's Day XIII

It's been 13 years.

There are kids in 8th grade who weren't around for 9/11.  There are high school seniors who can't remember it.

Since the battles this country still fights are traced to that day - it's important to remember.

Helping Americans remember and learn is a part of the mission of the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation.

A museum on wheels rolls across the United States.  Monday it stopped in Verona at the Public Library.


Groups of 20 at a time were escorted through the small space as we observed news video of that fateful day and viewed incredible items pulled from the wreckage - that unmistakeable feeling in the pit of my stomach returned.

A truck panel from the Ladder 101 company hangs on a wall with it's cartoon Pirate saluting the seven firefighters who answered their last call on September 11, 2001.

New York Firefighters led the tours.  Speaking from the heart and with a clear view of each memory - they took a bunch of southern Wisconsinites inside the day and the aftermath.

Steel fragments from the wreckage now stand as monuments engraved with the date and WTC for World Trade Center.

A large piece of the aluminum that covered some of the outside of one of the towers leans against a wall, protected by Plexiglas.  Other than some tears to it's thin skin, it looks good.

Other pieces of debris recovered at the site or landfills create moments of memory for those of us who were transfixed in front of our screens watching the unimaginable.

A TV shows the names of the 2,977 victims of the crash in Pennsylvania, at the Pentagon, and the Twin Towers.

The firefighter talked about first responders who lived through that day are now fighting sicknesses that seemed linked to the billows of industrial pollution that destroyed at a much slower pace.

We observed the timeline of events and read quotes from those that lived to tell their stories.

Stephen Siller was a New York Firefighter who had just finished his shift the early morning of 9/11.  He was on his way to play golf when he heard about the first plane flying into the building.

He drove as far as the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel - found it shut down - so he put on his gear and ran to the World Trade Center.

He left behind a wife and five children.

The Stephen Siller Foundation is dedicated to raising funds for veterans of the battles fought since 9/11.  Funds raised help the most catastrophically injured - working to build Smart Homes for American heroes.

An annual run is held in Siller's memory and to raise money - it travels the route from the Tunnel to the Towers.

The Never Forget Exhibit is shown at no charge to people around the country - making sure that one person at a time - we do not forget.

Thanks to all of America's Patriots - throughout history, now, and who will serve in the years to come.

For more about the Stephen Siller Foundation check www.Tunnel2Towers.org.

There's another story about Patriots I want to share - look for it in this space on Saturday.