9/11 Survivors And Relatives Strive To Honor Victims
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A northwest Indiana man who survived the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center 13 years ago said the fight against terrorism is a never-ending battle.
WBBM Newsradio's Regine Schlesinger reports Don Bacso, of Dyer, Indiana, was on the 57th floor of the north tower of the World Trade Center that day.
He recalled a sense of excitement on that bright September morning as he headed to work, an excitement interrupted by the impact of the first plane to hit the World Trade Center.
Bacso said, as the building began to sway, he thought a bomb had exploded, so he headed for the nearest stairwell.
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He made it out before the tower collapsed, but the faces of others who didn't still haunt him 13 years later.
With President Barack Obama launching an expanded offensive against Islamic State terrorists in Iraq and Syria, Bacso said the fight against terrorism isn't likely to end anytime soon.
"It's a war that we're going to be fighting for many, many generations to come, and that's a war on terror that we may never end, but we have to pursue it because … if we turn a blind eye to it, we're going to get hit again like we did on September 11, 2001," he said at a Patriot Day memorial program at the Union League Club of Chicago. "It may happen again. It will come in a different form, but it will happen again."
Meantime, the brother of a volunteer emergency medical technician who died running into the Twin Towers was calling on
Glen Winnick, a volunteer EMT, ran into the World Trade Center after the planes hit to do what he could to help those inside. He was one of the more than 3,000 people killed in the attacks.
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His brother, Jay, founded a group called My Good Deeds, which calls on people to give of themselves in service to others on the anniversary of the attacks.
"Over the years, it's now grown to the point where there are millions participating. In fact, last year independent research shows that 47 million people marked the day in service, and with good deeds," Winnick said.
For his own part, Jay Winnick planned to volunteer at a New York City school where a growing number of students come from homeless families.
Also Thursday morning, in southwest suburban Oak Lawn, a memorial ceremony was held starting at precisely 9:11 a.m. at the village's monument to the victims and first responders of 9/11. The monument includes four steel beams from the World Trade Center towers.
Village officials, veterans, first responders, and local residents gathered to hear prayers, songs, and solemn reflections of what happened on this day 13 years ago.
Oak Lawn resident Thomas Sweeney praised the president for escalating attacks against ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria), a group of 80,000 to 100,000 extremist militants that many analysts have said is more a bigger threat to America than al Qaeda was on Sept. 11, 2001.
"It's the best TV show I watched, because this is what we have to do. This is what we'd better do in short order. If they keep these people in their place, they can get them out of our country once and for all," he said.
