[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 9]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 13301-13302]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




          9/11: FROM A DAY OF TRAGEDY TO A TRIUMPH OF FREEDOM

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. MIKE PENCE

                               of indiana

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, September 9, 2011

  Mr. PENCE. Mr. Speaker, like every American, I will never forget 
where I was on the morning of September 11, 2001. As a Member of 
Congress from Indiana, that day my duties took me to Capitol Hill and 
to sights and sounds I will never forget.
   I witnessed the U.S. Capitol literally hemorrhaging with people 
running in every direction. I heard the deafening sounds of sirens all 
around and thunderous booms of military aircraft going supersonic at 
low altitude. And I saw the columns of mud-brown smoke billowing out of 
the Pentagon just across the Potomac River.
   As the world watched the towers fall in New York City, I witnessed 
the aftermath of the first attack on our nation's capital since the War 
of 1812. It was a day when evil triumphed over good and the cunning 
plans of the enemies of freedom had their moment. They thought they had 
unleashed violence sufficient to cow a great nation but they were 
wrong.
   What our enemies intended for harm gave birth to a season of 
national unity and a new generation of heroes. The unity and call to 
service appeared almost instantly.
   At a time of great national division, it is hard to imagine today 
what Washington DC was like in the hours, weeks and months following 
September 11th, but the unity of that day did happen. I was there. I 
saw it.
   In the swirl of events that morning, I knew that Congress would need 
to convene to provide the authority and resources for our national 
response. As Capitol Hill police officers urged me to leave the 
grounds, I asked where I could report for duty and was escorted to the 
office of the Chief of the Capitol Police where the combined leadership 
of the House and the Senate in both parties was huddled watching the 
events unfold on several television screens.
   When I arrived in the room, the congressional leaders were standing 
apart, divided by party and by institutions, but as that fateful 
morning wore on, things changed. Faced with a merciless attack on our 
nation, the politics of

[[Page 13302]]

the room dissolved. There were no Republicans in that room, there were 
no Democrats in that room, just Americans.
   I watched as leaders set aside every divisive issue before the 
Congress and made plans to move resources and programs designed to meet 
the moment with bipartisan resolve. And that unity would animate the 
work of the Congress for months following the attack.
   But the true legacy of 9/11 cannot be found among political leaders 
of the day, but in the citizen soldiers and public safety personnel who 
answered that day with courage and selflessness.
   To the soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines who answered that day 
with resolve, who did what needed to be done without regard to their 
own safety, we owe our deepest gratitude. I have prayed with the 
families and wept at the funerals of Hoosiers who did not shrink from 
9/11 but grew into heroes whose names will forever be engraved in the 
heart of a grateful nation. To our police, fire and public safety 
personnel who ran in when others ran out, who braved the flames, who 
followed the leads and who took such actions as were necessary to bring 
us a decade free of another terrorist event on American soil belongs 
the credit for this day. This anniversary belongs to the fallen, their 
families and to all those whose diligence and tenacity brought safety 
to our families and justice to our enemies.
   A common enemy forged common ground and a new generation of American 
heroes. Today, we rightly pause to remember those who fell on 9/11 and 
every day since in the War on Terror. But we also pause to celebrate 
those Americans who, by their service and sacrifice, have made this day 
of tragedy into a triumph of freedom.

                          ____________________