Ridge Global LLC

Five years after the attacks of 9/11, Tom Ridge spoke at the Flight 93 Memorial Ceremony in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Governor Ridge serves as Honorary Co-Chair of the Flight 93 National Memorial Fund.

 

More than 230 years ago, our Founders affirmed, in word and deed, that patriotism in not an ideal but a way of life.  They would be proud to know that resolution and courage have long had a home in the American experience. 

Many times this country has encountered hardships and heartbreaks, tragedies and trials of the human spirit.  And when those times occurred, countless individuals have said, in word and deed, “Let us give this moment all we can.” 

The 11th of September five years ago is one of those moments.  It is a date we continue to carry, with purposeful but gentle hands. For with that day come reminders of those taken from us too soon – family and friends and fellow citizens whose loss gave the purest truth to the simplest of statements:  they meant the world to us. And still do.

Today across the country and elsewhere across the globe, people have gathered to honor the nearly 3,000 souls – citizens of the world from more than 80 nations – whose memories live in the hearts of their fellow citizens and the people they encountered along life’s way.

That includes the forty men and women we honor today.

The passengers and crew of Flight 93 are an emblem of a citizen’s greatest gift – a love of country, so deeply felt, so strongly demonstrated, that the highest sacrifice was nobly offered. These men and women stood in solidarity so that others would receive salvation.  Through bravery and unquestionable patriotism, again through word and deed, they said together, “Let us give this moment all we can.”

And so it was, that five years ago, upon this field of honor, lives were lost…so that lives were saved…and thus heroes were made…over the skies of Shanksville. 

And so it is, and must continue to be, that five years on, we are here to give this moment all we can.  Our respect, our admiration, our gratitude and, with it all, our promise that others will know their names, their actions…the sweeping and inspiring story of Flight 93. 

To the families and friends of these heroes, we know that your personal loss is still palpable.  Five early years is not enough to ease your pain, nor has it eased our unyielding respect for your loved ones.

Through word and deed, we will continue to send the message that their courage mattered.  That their lives had great meaning.  That they are deeply missed.
 
We will never forget them. We will long honor them.  And pledge all we are and all we hope to be to the principle they set so strongly before us – love of country.  For it was this principle – that patriotism is not an ideal but a way of life – that the men and women of Flight 93 championed in their last loving embrace to their nation. 

History will tell of these extraordinary people who rose to defeat evil – and were released into the arms of angels to see the grateful face of God.

God bless the beloved patriots of Flight 93. 

And may God continue to bless the land they so dearly loved – the freest, most treasured place to call home, the United States of America.