Today In History...Berlin Wall

April 29, 1990…Wrecking cranes began tearing down the Berlin Wall at Brandenburg Gate.
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On November 10, 2009, I wrote about my connection with the Berlin Wall.  Refer to this link to read about it... http://jocarweaver.blogspot.com/search/label/Berlin%20Wall

The Death of Osama Bin Laden

History was made last night when President Barak Obama announced that Osama Bin Laden is dead. After a firefight in Pakistan, where he had been hiding, a small team of American forces killed Bin Laden and took possession of his body. His death came 15 years after he declared war on the U.S. Al-Qaida was also responsible for the 1998 bombings of two American embassies in Africa that killed 224 people and the 2000 attack on the U.S.S. Cole that killed 24 soldiers in Yemen, as well as countless other plots, some that were successful and some that were not.

When I heard the news it caused me to think back on my remembrances that I have of 9/11. I wrote about it in a blog entitled "My 9/11 Memories" dated 9/11/08. What a sad and awful day that was and the following days where spent in trying to absorb the shock of what had happened in our country.

I always considered myself fortunate that I had the opportunity to see "Ground Zero" and the surrounding neighborhoods when I visited New York City about a year after 9/11. Even a year later, the scars of that day were still visible.

Then some time later I had the opportunity to go to Washington, D.C. for a meeting. What a privilege it was for me to be able to touch the flag that draped the Pentagon after it was hit by a plane that same day.

The Pentagon flag was originally unfurled from the roof of the Pentagon on Sept. 12, 2001, when President George W. Bush arrived to view the damage from the Sept. 11 attacks. The flag hung at the Pentagon for 30 days before being lowered and folded with full military honors on Oct. 11, 2001.The Pentagon garrison flag came to the Museum on loan from the U.S. Army Center of Military History and was displayed where the original Star-Spangled Banner once hung.

The September 11 attacks, often referred to as September 11th or 9/11, were a series of coordinated suicide attacks by al-Qaeda upon the United States on September 11, 2001. On that morning, 19 al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four commercial passenger jet airliners. The hijackers intentionally crashed two of the airliners into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, killing everyone on board and many others working in the buildings. Both towers collapsed within two hours, destroying nearby buildings and damaging others. The hijackers crashed a third airliner into The Pentagon in Arlingto, Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C. The fourth plane crashed into a field near Shanksville in rural Pennsylvania after some of its passengers and flight crew attempted to retake control of the plane, which the hijackers had redirected toward Washington, D.C., to target either the Capitol Building or the White House. There were no survivors from any of the flights.

Nearly 3,000 victims and the 19 hijackers died in the attacks. According to the New York State Health Department, 836 responders, including firefighters and police personnel, have died as of June 2009. Among the 2,752 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. Another 184 people were killed in the attack on the Pentagon. The overwhelming majority of casualties were civilians, including nationals of over 70 countries. 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 collapse of the World Trade Center.

I will always remember 9/11 as it was a living history for me. When my grandson reads about 9/11 it will be history read from a book. It will be no different than my son who read about the Vietnam War in a book when that was living history for me also. What will the death of Osama Bin Laden mean for the future? No one knows and only time will tell. I may be writing about something that someone did as revenge for his death one of these days. I hope not. I hope that nothing that tramatic ever strikes the U.S. ever again.

-------------------------------------------My friend Tricia who was with me at the Smithsonian and touched the Pentagon flag also reminded me today that we also saw a melted phone that had been on the plane that hit the Pentagon.

Star Spangled Banner Day

I received this email today from my good friend Tricia...

Carol,
Did you know that TODAY is STAR SPANGLED BANNER DAY?? Woohoo!
And, since you and I saw THE ORIGINAL flag, being refurbished at the Smithsonian, I just couldn’t resist sending you this commemorative email!
God Bless the Red,
God Bless the Blue
God Bless America
And God Bless You!

Yes, Tricia and I got the opportunity to visit the Smithsonian and see the original American flag on one of our visits to Washington, D.C. when we were project managers for the Air Force Project for child care providers. What a fun day we had spending most of it in the various parts of the Smithsonian. My favorite building though was the American History one. Almost immediately upon entering that great building we were able to stand under the flag that had hung at the Pentagon the day of the 9/11 bombings. It was hanging so low that Tricia and I both stood on our tiptoes just to touch the edge of the flag knowing that we were touching a piece of history.

As we continued our tour, we came upon the section where the original "Star Spangled Banner" was being restored. I had never really realized how large that flag would be and was and it is quite large. Read on...

The original Star-Spangled Banner, the flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write the song that would become our national anthem, is among the most treasured artifacts in the collections of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.

Quick Facts about the Star-Spangled Banner Flag:

- Made in Baltimore, Maryland, in July-August 1813 by flagmaker Mary Pickersgill
- Commissioned by Major George Armistead, commander of Fort McHenry
- Original size: 30 feet by 42 feet
- Current size: 30 feet by 34 feet
- Fifteen stars and fifteen stripes (one star has been cut out)
- Raised over Fort McHenry on the morning of September 14, 1814, to signal American victory over the British in the Battle of Baltimore; the sight inspired Francis Scott Key to write “The Star-Spangled Banner”
- Preserved by the Armistead family as a memento of the battle
- First loaned to the Smithsonian Institution in 1907; converted to permanent gift in 1912
- On exhibit at the National Museum of American History since 1964
- Major, multi-year conservation effort launched in 1998

We were able to observe the progress of the restoration, as well as view an exhibition about the history of the 185-year-old flag. Although the flag restoration work was conducted behind glass walls, we had a great view of the restoration taking place.

The restorers worked in a climate-controlled, pressurized lab inside the museum, inspecting, repairing and cleaning every inch of the flag, without touching it. They worked on their stomachs, from a scaffold suspended just six inches over the wool and cotton banner, which is being rolled out, a little at a time.

I remember being so excited about what I was seeing that I called Mom and Dad on my cell phone just to have them share that experience with me.