REMEMBERING 9-11:

'Remember, They're With Us'

(Tune: Bold Robert Emmet)

By Lorcan Otway
Flashing lights and no sirens, all emergencies over 
The motorcade passes, with the heroes who fell. 
And all on the streets stop, and in silence bear witness 
Such sorrow and thanks, no mere words can tell.

Who ever can forget the gray ash-covered engines 
Coming back from the alarm like no other before .
Such pain for survivors, to embrace all the families 
Of comrades so loved, now on that distant shore.

Chief Downey, Father Mike, First Deputy Feehan 
Peter Ganci and many too many to tell, 
Your memories we'll honor we n'er will forget you. 
You brought hope to the horror when the two towers fell. 

Remember Tim Stackpole, how he prayed in the wreckage 
In that terrible fire that took two of his friends. 
So horribly injured he fought to recover 
To return to his ladder and to die with his men. 

So now to acknowledge, just one of the many 
Engine 33/Ladder Company 9. 
There's 10 empty places around their table, 
Ten fallen brothers who fell on the line. 

Remember Kev Pfiefer, Mike Boyle and Keith Maynard,
Jeff Walz, Brian Bilcher, Robert King, Dave Arce,
Gerarde Baptiste, Robert Evans, John Tierney, 
Ten lost out of 40 from one company.

And though we mourn them, they're still on the job now, 
Though they have fallen, they're still standing tall. 
Their spirit will bolster their sisters and brothers, 
Their unseen presence will answer each call. 

So tell all your children to tell all their children: 
Never pass a firehouse without a brief pause, 
And thank all the heroes who work on those engines. 
Each day they risk all in humanity's cause. 

Read Lorcan Otway's story of the genesis of "Remember, They're With Us."

• INFORMATION ON THE FDNY:

• The Official Web site of the Fire Department of New York If you reside in metro New York, please consider attending any of the remaining funeral services for the city's firefighters. There are so many (43 confirmed dead, 300 missing) that even their own brother firefighters are finding it impossible to attend all of them.

• Unofficial website of the FDNY

  UNDERSTANDING THE STRUGGLE TO COME:

• Read Taliban by Ahmed Rashid for a look into a world that remains largely closed to American eyes.
• Does the man measure up to the myth? Find out when you read Bin Laden by Yossef Bodansky.
  (A portion of your purchase price will help support The Wild Geese Today.)