The Hague, Netherlands—The below opinion piece is authored by Roberta Enschedé. The piece covers an upcoming event in the Netherlands in reflection of September 11, 2001, and the sacrifices of heroes and the harm to individuals in the aftermath. Roberta is an Illinois UOCAVA voter, resident of the Netherlands, former International Vice Chair of Democrats Abroad, and former chair of Democrats Abroad Netherlands. And although she is not a veteran, Roberta is honored to be a member of the Democrats Abroad Global Veterans and Military Families (VMF) Caucus.
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On June 19, 2019, I watched Luis Alvarez, NYPD, testify before the United States Congress. Jon Stewart, the former host of the Daily Show, sat beside him. As a 9/11 first responder and advocate for the 9/11 Victim’s Compensation Fund, Luis Alvarez told his story directly to lawmakers. He came to Capitol Hill from a hospice in New York to speak for all the men and women who, like him, suffer and will die because of the World Trade Center wreckage and rescuing victims in the midst of the WTC carnage and months and years of working in the cancerous wreckage. “I’m going to make sure that you never forget to take care of the 9/11 responders,” he told the members of Congress.
Due to a cancer-caused exposure to the poisonous air and rubble at Ground Zero, Luis Alvarez died on June 29th. This once robust, smiling New York City cop with giant arms was haggard and gaunt in his final days. Death hovered in his eyes and the sunken bones of his face. I couldn’t stop watching him speak nor could I stop listening to Jon Stewart pleading and imploring Congress to extend medical benefits to all who labored in the devastation of 9/11 on the day itself and months and years after. Thankfully, the legislation they pleaded for was eventually passed.
On September 11, 2001, 2,977 people lost their lives. Since that day, the clean-up of the toxic rubble of 9/11 has claimed the lives of at least that many and perhaps more. A few years ago, when a tough New York cop spoke at the Ceremony of Remembrance and Hope he choked back tears when he talked about friends he lost and friends he kept on losing. He was there on 9/11 and worked in the rubble till the following January. In 2019, he was still OK. I hope he still is.
In May of 2019, a Memorial Glade on the site of the 9/11 Memorial was dedicated to all the rescue and recovery workers and volunteers who on died on 9/11 and in the years since. The Glade has a path between six massive Vermont granite slabs. Their granite is inlaid with steel from the fallen towers. The path from the Glade leads to the Survival Tree, the little Callery Pear that somehow remained standing and over the years was remarkably nursed back to life and re-planted at Ground Zero.
Each year in New York City, Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and the Pentagon, there are ceremonies and remembrances. September 11th cannot and will not ever be “just another day.” Each of us remembers where we were, what we were doing, what we were feeling. Each of us can tell a story of a friend or a friend’s friend or a relative. The distinguished journalist David Halberstam wrote: “There are dates which seem to separate yesterday from today and then from now. September 11th 2001 is such a date.”
One year, I published some information about the Ceremony of Remembrance and Hope in a local paper. A Dutch woman who I didn’t know called and told me in a trembling voice, that she was having breakfast in her hotel across from the Trade Center and saw the plane crash into the Tower. She talked about what she saw and how for months, she couldn’t even recycle glass; that she couldn’t stand the sound of glass shattering. Then she said, “It’s good that you do this.”
Another friend told me about her friend and colleague who died on American Airlines Flight 73. She was a brilliant young lawyer who wanted to change the world and was just getting started. Who knows what she might have done!
Then there is the story of NYC firefighter who ran into the Trade Center twice and the second time never came out. His remains have never been found. He was the best friend of a very tough New Yorker who was a Security Attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Wassenaar. He told me about his FDNY friend. I asked him to tell the story at the Ceremony. I knew he wanted to talk but first had to ask the family if it was OK. Every year since, we contact his brother and ask him to write something to be read at the ceremony. The family is so touched to know that way over here in the Netherlands, we remember their brother, father, son, husband.
This year, we will read names during the Ceremony of Remembrance and Hope – not all 2,977 but the names we do read speak for all! We will read the names of twelve men from Squad One, Park Slope, Brooklyn. Our community tried to help their widows and orphaned children because Squad One was the neighborhood firehouse of a former American School teacher. Right after 9/11, I remember her crying in the Teacher’s Lounge and asking, “Did you hear about my firehouse? Did you hear about my firehouse?” On the 26th of December of 2001, we brought money we collected from the community and books with drawings and poems and notes. I will never forget walking into that firehouse in Brooklyn past the twelve photos of smiling, tough, young firefighters, the twelve who died in the first hours of that morning. I will never forget asking a young firefighter, “What else can we do for you?” I will never forget how he looked at me with deep brown sad Mediterranean eyes and sighed, “Your prayers, we need your prayers.”
On September 11th beginning at 8:47 a.m., there will be four Minutes of Silence at Ground Zero to observe the times each plane hit and each tower fell. At 9:37 a.m, there will be Silence at the Pentagon and at 10:03 a.m. in Shanksville. At sunset in NYC, the Tribute in Light in the shape of the Twin Towers will burn until sunrise on September 12th.
Here in Wassenaar (a suburb of The Hague), Americans and our friends from all nations and of every faith will remember knowing that out of the devastation, One World Trade Center rises - 1,776 feet tall and the little Callery Pear tree blooms each year in the new warmth of spring.
(On September 11, 2002, in front of the American School, we planted a magnolia tree that blooms every spring. There is a tile in front of it with the words, “May we grow and blossom like this tree and the human family we were meant to be.”)
With so much chaos and uncertainty happening in the United States presently, I’m grateful that there are U.S. citizens all over the world who are just as passionate as I am in remembering and honoring the heroes of 9/11. I also appreciate Democrats Abroad Netherlands and the Democrats Abroad Global VMF Caucus lending their support to our 9/11/2025 event here and those happening elsewhere. Until every last survivor of 9/11 first responders and volunteers have their health care needs met, Congress’ job is far from done.
This September 11th, at the American School, Rijkstraatweg 200 in Wassenaar, the remembrance event will begin at 5:00 p.m. We hope you will join us. Everyone is welcome. The ceremony is for anyone who needs to talk and be together with others on that day.
Former Secretary of State John Kerry said, “Remember the hours after September 11th when we came together as one. It was the worst day we’ve ever seen, but it brought out the best in all of us.”
We will never forget 2,752 people who died at the Towers, 184 who died at the Pentagon and 40 who died in a burning meadow in Shankesville, and Luis Alvarez and all his comrades who have died since. Etched into the stone of the 9/11 Memorial is a challenge!
“Dedicated to those who fell and those who carry on. May we never forget.”
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U.S. citizens living abroad, both civilian and military, are highly encouraged to check your voter registration status and request your ballot for any upcoming elections in your home voting state that you are eligible to vote in.
The VMF Caucus, proudly comprising veterans, military family members, DoD civilians, and strong allies of veteran and military family causes, has approximately 1,400 members located in dozens of countries.
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