Ceecee Lyles, Flight 93 flight attendant, 33 years old, in an answering-machine message to her husband: “Please tell my children that I love them very much. I’m sorry, baby. I wish I could see your face again.”
Tom Burnett, on United 93, called his wife Deena: “We’re all going to die, but three of us are going to do something. . . I love you, honey.”
Todd Beamer, on United 93, prayed on the phone with a stranger,Verizon Airfone supervisor Lisa Jefferson. She said hewas calm. They said the Lord’s Prayer together. Then he said,“Let’s roll.”
Elizabeth Rivas, at the Laundromat when the planes hit the WTC, called home to see if her husband who worked in the WTC had called. Her child reported that he had called: “He said, Mami, he loves you no matter what happens. He loves you. That’s it.”
Capt. Walter Hynes,of NYPD Ladder 13, dialed home that morning as his rig left the firehouse at 85th Street and Lexington Avenue for the WTC: “I don’t know if we’ll make it out. I want to tell you that I love you and I love the kids.”
Because of September 11, Bill Cahir, at age 34, sought an age waiver to enlist in the Marines. This month, on his third tour while patrolling the Helmand province, Sgt. Cahir was killed. AsCahir was laidat Arlington, Marines handed the flag to his bride – pregnant with their twins. A dozen men stood in the back of the chapel and were the last to leave; they had traveled hundreds of miles to be there, wearing their FDNY dress uniforms, to honor a hero.
We remember you. We honor you. We will be the last to leave.
