At the end of the ride we paid our respects through prayer, a singing of the star spangled banner, and a lowering of the American flag to Half mast in honor of the first responders and all others who lost their lives that fateful day in 2001 when Four Airliners were hijacked, driven into the twin world towers, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania.
On that day Wikipedia reports:
Nearly 3000 victims and the 19 hijackers died in the attacks.[3] According to the New York State Health Department, 836 responders, including firefighters and police personnel, have died as of June 2009.[3] Among the 2752 victims who died in the attacks on the World Trade Center were 343 firefighters and 60 police officers from New York City and the Port Authority.[4] 184 people were killed in the attacks on the Pentagon.[5] The overwhelming majority of casualties were civilians, including nationals of over 70 countries.[6] In addition, there was at least one secondary death – one person was ruled by a medical examiner to have died from lung disease due to exposure to dust from the World Trade Center's collapse.[7]
This event led us into war with two countries and terrorist groups based "God knows where" with a hate for all things American.
Though we would have liked to have seen more than approximately one hundred representatives show in remembrance of that day, we are happy that it appears that this may have been one of the largest turn outs yet.
However we were confused, we were told that this would be a "police escorted run" yet we would stop at all redlights as if it were not a police escorted run???????
