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Remarks Delivered by
U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao
9/11 Remembrance Ceremony at the Frances Perkins Building
Washington, D.C.
Monday, September 11, 2006
It's hard to believe that five long years have passed since terrorists attacked our country on September 11, 2001.
Five years seems like such a long time ago. But it's even longer for those who lost loved ones on that terrible day.
Eloise Clark worked in the Solicitor's Office and at DOL for many years. Her daughter, Antoinette Sherman, perished in the attack on the Pentagon. Antoinette would have been 40 years old this year. She not only left behind her parents and family, but a little boy she was planning to adopt.
Paul Hylind works in ASP. His cousin, Paul Ruback, was a firefighter with Ladder Company 25 in New York City. He perished trying to rescue others in the World Trade Center, leaving behind a wife and six children.
Keith Cooper, from our ESA regional office in New York, lost his brother, John. John left behind a wife and two sons, Jeffrey and Adam. Another one of our ESA colleagues in New York, Julie Mordechai, lost her cousin, Daniel Ilkanayev. He worked at Cantor Fitzgerald and was only 36 years old.
Other members of our DOL family lost friends or knew someone who perished in the attacks. For those of us working at the Frances Perkins Building, the black smoke clearly visible from the burning Pentagon across the river will be forever seared in memory.
For members of our DOL family in New York City, the horrors of 9/11 were up close and personal. DOL had regional offices at the World Trade Center and at Varick Street, near the Twin Towers.
Thankfully, all DOL employees were evacuated safely after the attacks. But I visited New York several weeks later and talked to many of our colleagues who were traumatized by memories of those terrible events. Some recalled the buildings shaking as the attacks took place. Others, in Varick Street, witnessed the attacks. Some saw people leaping from the burning buildings to their deaths. All of them had to reconstruct their working lives amidst unspeakable tragedy.
As we remember those who perished on September 11, 2001, let us also remember the tremendous outpouring of love, compassion and resolve from our colleagues and from our country.
Staff from OSHA and the IG's office rushed to New York to participate in the rescue and recovery efforts at Ground Zero.
MSHA immediately volunteered its equipment, expertise and personnel.
ETA, EBSA and ESA worked tirelessly to help workers displaced by the attacks recover their lives and livelihoods.
OASAM staff went above and beyond the call of duty to participate in the IG-led efforts to strengthen DOL building security nationwide.
And gifts and offers of assistance poured in from our colleagues all across the country.
In refusing to let terrorism disrupt the Department's operations, all of us played a role in helping our nation recover from these horrific attacks.
And by our actions, we kept faith with those who perished and with those who died rescuing others.
We will never forget their sacrifice.
Today, America still faces determined enemies who do not hesitate to use terror to harm the innocent. The war on terror will be long and difficult. But we have confidence in the outcome. Freedom will prevail, because there is nothing our great nation cannot achieve when we act with resolve and clear purpose.
So now, at 8:46 am — the approximate time when the first plane hit the Twin Towers — please join me and our entire nation in a moment of silent remembrance.
May God bless the victims, survivors, family, friends and loved ones of September 11, 2001. And may God bless our country, and all those who are fighting to protect the freedom that the terrorists tried to — but will never — destroy.
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