[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 176 (Tuesday, December 9, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2522]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  HONORING COLLEEN ANN MEEHAN BARKOW, THOMAS J. MEEHAN III, AND JOANN 
                                 MEEHAN

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. CAROLYN B. MALONEY

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, December 8, 2003

  Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Colleen Ann 
Meehan Barkow, who perished in the attacks of September 11, as well as 
her father and mother, Thomas J. and JoAnn Meehan, who still suffer 
from her loss. The following is a letter sent to my office by Thomas J. 
Meehan III, which I want to submit to the Congressional Record.

       Dear Representative Maloney: Colleen was an employee of 
     Cantor Fitzgerald working on the 103rd floor. Her partial 
     remains, the upper torso, were found on September 17, 2001, 
     the date which was to have been her first wedding 
     anniversary. My wife and I continue to be filled with the 
     anguish of her death, the manner in which she died, her un-
     viewable remains, dismemberment and the tragic death she 
     suffered.
       I am writing you today in regard to the legislation you 
     have introduced calling for a federal study to assess the 
     historic value of the WTC footprints and to assess the 
     appropriateness and feasibility of national monument status 
     for that immediate area.
       This legislation is important not only to the families of 
     those who lost family members, but to the Nation and the 
     world, for September 11, 2001 is another day that will live 
     in infamy, and has altered the course of world history.
       There are those who dispute its parallels in history, but 
     they cannot be disputed. Gettysburg, the attack on Pearl 
     Harbor, and Normandy are events which have so affected the 
     world, and have preserved for future generations the places 
     of the lives lost and bloodshed, so that freedom and 
     democracy will continue upon the world stage.
       These historic events have warranted a national 
     preservation of where American lives have been lost and 
     sacrificed. So that their sacrifices would be remembered for 
     future generations, and maintained by a grateful nation, is 
     the reason why this legislation should be enacted for the 
     lives lost on September 11, 2001; they deserve nothing less.
       The preservation of the footprints of the WTC buildings and 
     the surrounding area designation as a national monument is 
     needed to ensure that we as a nation keep our pledge to 
     ``Never Forget''. We must secure the site and preserve for 
     future generations the ground which has been become sacred 
     and hallowed by the loss of the blood of all the victims.
           Sincerely,
     Thomas J. Meehan III.

                          ____________________