God Bless America

Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain pays tribute to the fallen of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 as he sings, "God Bless America."


Note to readers: The following column by Congressman Don Manzullo initially published in the Northwest Herald on Sept. 16, 2001.

Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001, started like an ordinary day. I rode to the Capitol with Congressman Lee Terry and at 9:30 a.m. crossed the 14th Street bridge, a quarter-mile from the Pentagon.

Ten minutes later, the airplane struck the building. As I entered my office, my staff was watching thick smoke pouring from the Pentagon. I sent them home. With no ride myself, I asked my scheduler and legislative assistant, Katy Whitfield from Crystal Lake, to take me home. As we left, we heard rumors of bombs exploding at the State Department, the Senate and on the Mall. We even heard a rumor that the Sears Tower in Chicago suffered the same fate as the World Trade Center in New York.

Members of Congress and staff moved quickly and silently from the office buildings. The sense of shock was so intense that most people, including myself, felt nothing but a sense of disbelief. We heard what we thought was an explosion, but it could have been a sonic boom from a fighter jet passing over the Capitol.

Members of Congress were summoned to return to the Capitol at 7:15 p.m. Speaker [of the House Dennis] Hastert led us in silent prayer on the Capitol steps. Congressman Dana Rohrabacher of California started us singing “God Bless America.”

On Wednesday, Sept. 12, I went to the Pentagon to thank the firefighters who responded to the tragedy. I spoke with several of them. There must have been a thousand people representing countless emergency and security agencies. There was even a chapel. I talked to two exhausted firemen who were trying to get some rest. “The American people want to thank you,” I said. “Thank you,” they responded. “We’re tired. We just worked 12 straight hours.” The plane struck the building on its side, one wing up, the other down. It tore open a 200-foot-wide hole. The fire burned for more than 24 hours, reaching up to 1,400 degrees. And, yet, right next to the hole in the building stood a computer, a desk and some filing cabinets unscathed by the fire. The acrid smoke, charred building, and response teams made it look like a war zone. It was.

On Thursday, Sept. 13, the shock had not left and I still couldn’t sleep. I saw Congressman Gary Ackerman from New York. I asked him if he knew how many constituents and friends he had lost. He said he didn’t know; tears poured from his eyes. I embraced him as he told me his intern’s 23-year-old brother perished in the World Trade Center. Congresswoman Nydia Velaquez, also from New York, waited 11 agonizing hours before finding her niece, who worked in the building.

We voted Thursday for emergency funding to help the injured and missing, to rebuild the destruction, and to give our military the resources to wipe our planet clean of the cowardly animals who committed these heinous acts. We also voted to urge Americans to fly their flags. As we were being briefed in the House Chamber, a fire alarm sounded to evacuate us from a bomb threat.

I attended a weekly Bible study with several members of Congress. Our leader, Ted Yates, received the following email (in broken English) from Poland, where Ted and his family ministered for several years:

We are shocked and deep touch of this what happend in last Tuesday in States. I want assure you, and all other American friends about our solidarity, and our prayers which we bring to God’s Throne. Poland is plunge in mourning. President proclaimed national mourning for next 3 days. There are thousands of flowers and ever burning fires next to Amercan Embassy in Warsaw. Polish people had hard history but this kind of brutality stoped our breathing. We are with you.

–Yours in Christ, Piotr P. Waclawik.

Today is a new day. Our nation and our people are forever changed. And we are stronger than ever.

My offices have been flooded with calls from northern Illinois residents offering messages of hope and seeking ways to help. Doctors, nurses, firefighters and truckers offered to drive to New York to help the victims and missing. Seniors on fixed incomes offered cash donations. Thousands stood in line for hours to give blood.

I am overwhelmed by the sense of compassion and patriotism that has grasped our country. While our military protects us, our people will inspire us to heal and rebuild the greatest nation in the world.

God Bless America.

• Don Manzullo of Egan was U.S. Representative of Illinois’ 16th Congressional District when the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks occurred. He remains Illinois’ 16th District congressman today.