President Obama, in New York City Thursday to mark the U.S. killing of Sept. 11 mastermind Osama Bin Laden, told a group of firefighters the successful raid showed that, “when we say we will never forget, we mean what we say.”
Fifteen firefighters from the station known as the “Pride of Midtown” died in the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the most of any firehouse in the city. Obama’s visit there was the first of a series symbolic stops the president made Thursday, culminating in a wreath-laying ceremony at Ground Zero and then a meeting with relatives of people who died in the attacks.
“This is a symbolic site of the extraordinary sacrifice that was made on that terrible day almost 10 years ago,” Obama said at the fire station. He later reviewed a wall of plaques commemorating those from the station who died on 9/11 .
After eating lunch with the firefighters, Obama stopped at the police station for the First Precinct, whose officers were first at the scene on Sept. 11. The precinct did not lose any officers on the day of the attacks.
“It’s some comfort, I hope, to all of you to know that when those guys took those extraordinary risks going into Pakistan, that they were doing it in part because of the sacrifices that were made in the States,” Obama told the firefighters, standing in front of a firetruck. “They were doing it in the name of your brothers that were lost.”
Obama spoke only for a few minutes. He was accompanied by former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who was the city’s leader on the day of the attacks.
“Obviously you can’t bring back the friends you lost,” Obama told the firefighters, who were wearing their blue uniforms.
Obama gave similar remarks at the police station, telling a group of officers: “I am here basically to shake your hand and say how proud I am of all of you.”
The president did not make public remarks at the wreath-laying ceremony, which started just after 1 p.m.
“He wants to lay a wreath to honor the victims, to honor the first responders who so courageously rushed to the scene and, in many cases, gave their own lives to try to save others; to honor the spirit of unity in America that we all felt in the wake of that terrible attack,” said White House Press Secretary Jay Carney. “I think the power of that requires no words.”
Read more at The Washington Post.