What moves me so much about this are the ordinary heroes. The determination to act is what sets heroes apart from the rest of us; we all have the capacity to to help others, and to make a difference. They are the ones who choose to do it.
“No training. This was just people doing what they had to do that day.”
“You forget all about what you’re supposed to do, what they teach you in school, and you say, ‘You know what? Morally, this is the right way to go, and deep down, this is what I’m going to do.’”
“Average people. They stepped up when they needed to. They showed me, when American people need to come together and pull together, they will do it.”
“I have one theory in life. I never want to say “I should have.” If I do it, and I fail, then I tried. If I do it and I succeed, better for me. And I tell my children the same thing: never go through life saying you should have. If you want to do something, do it.”
The largest sea evacuation in history, with no planning, no preparation, conducted by ordinary people in record time.
But...
Not to denigrate the seaborne rescue efforts of 9/11, but I am not sure the final sentence in this post is historically correct. “The largest sea evacuation in history, with no planning, no preparation, conducted by ordinary people in record time.”
That’s a perfect description of the Miracle of Dunkirk in WWII. Allied soldiers were trapped on the beach in France, facing certain death from Nazi troops. With no planning, no preparation, and conducted by ordinary people in record time, nearly 340,000 men were evacuated and carried to safety across the English Channel. Hundreds of ordinary Brits sped to the rescue of their soldiers in private fishing boats and pleasure cruisers. Along with lifeboats and Dutch coasters, nearly 700 small boats collected men from the shallow waters near shore and either ferried them for transfer to deep-water destroyers or carried them all the way home to the English coastline. All of this was done on the spur of the moment in exceedingly dangerous conditions. Withering enemy fire took many lives, and the loss of ships and other military equipment was great. The Miracle of Dunkirk is, in my opinion, just about the most inspiring story in modern history.
The 9/11 sea evacuation is also an inspiring story that is not as well-known as it should be, especially since it was a very recent event. So thank you for posting this video, as we owe a great debt to these modern rescuers — who lived up to the noble and courageous tradition set at Dunkirk.
I know, I’m aware of Dunkirk, but the 9/11 boatlift was actually much larger. Over 500,000 civilians in 9 hours. Granted, it wasn’t under fire – as they said in the video, they kept waiting for more attacks and were very thankful there weren’t any more. Both are very amazing stories.
500,000? I stand corrected. I hadn’t realized that the number was that large. I will be searching the internet to learn more about this more recent rescue, and I do hope someone has written a book about it.