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Dempsey Stresses Reflection, Strength, Resolve at 9/11 Remembrance


By Terri Moon Cronk
DoD News, Defense Media Activity
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WASHINGTON —

Today’s observance of the 13th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks is about reflecting and remembering and about love for the 184 lives that ended at the Pentagon that day, Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a remembrance event at the Pentagon 9/11 Memorial.

Following a moment of silence at 9:37 a.m., marking the time when a hijacked plane struck the building that day, the chairman told family members and friends of those who died in the attack that he realizes ceremonies like today’s are especially tough and emotion-filled moments for them.

“It takes a great deal of courage to keep coming back here,” the chairman said.

Noting that Sept. 11 also is about strength and resolve, Dempsey paid tribute to the children who lost parents in the attacks, and the men and women who were roused by the events of that day and joined the military to defend the nation, the generation that has served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Letter from a victim’s mother

The chairman read from a letter he received from a mother whose daughter died in the 9/11 attack and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

“She said, ‘The pain of losing someone you love, even years later, never really goes away,’” Dempsey told the audience. “At any instant, a smell, color or song, or a date on the calendar like today, can bring into stark relief that first raw moment when everything changed.’ She said, ‘If there’s any secret to grieving, it’s that there can be sorrow and joy, sadness and pride, to exist in the same space at the same time.’ And she learned that grief is not a lack of faith, nor a sign of weakness. It’s just the price of love.”

Today’s remembrance offers all Americans the opportunity to rededicate their lives “to the causes of our great nation and its great future,” Dempsey said.

“For as one of our nation’s leaders said, ‘We could easily allow our time and energy to be consumed by the crisis of the moment, of the day [but], we must also lay the groundwork to help define our future,’” he added.

Introducing “the man who spoke those words and strives to live them every day,” the chairman turned the podium over to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.

(Follow Terri Moon Cronk on Twitter: @MoonCronkDoD)