00:00Charlie was a giant of his generation, a champion of liberty, and an inspiration to millions and millions of people.
00:07Our prayers are with his wonderful wife, Eric, and his beautiful children.
00:14Fantastic people they are.
00:17We miss him greatly, yet I have no doubt that Charlie's voice and the courage he put into the hearts of countless people,
00:26especially young people, will live on.
00:30I'm pleased to announce that I will soon be awarding Charlie Kirk posthumously the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
00:38The date of the ceremony will be announced, and I can only guarantee you one thing, that we will have a very big crowd.
00:45Very, very big.
00:48Thank you, my fellow Americans.
00:50Eighty-four years ago, this morning, the banks of the Potomac were filled with the clamor of construction workers who broke ground on the building,
01:01now known as the Pentagon, on September 11, 1941.
01:07At the time, it was the biggest building ever built.
01:13From that moment forward, this structure stood as a monument to American strength, power, and cherished American freedom.
01:21Exactly six decades later, on September 11, 2001, those same walls built with the sweat and muscle blood of our parents and grandparents
01:35were scarred by flame and shaken by terror as our country came face-to-face with pure evil.
01:42On that fateful day, savage monsters attacked the very symbols of our civilization.
01:50Yet here in Virginia, and in New York, and in the skies over Pennsylvania, Americans did not hesitate.
02:01They stood on their feet, and they showed the world that we will never yield, we will never bend, we will never give up,
02:09and our great American flag will never, ever fail.
02:13That terrible morning, 24 years ago, time itself stood still.
02:20The laughter of schoolchildren fell silent.
02:24The rush of our traffic came to an absolute halt.
02:30And for 2,977 innocent souls and their families, the entire world came crashing down so suddenly.
02:39In the quarter of a century since those acts of mass murder, 9-11 family members have felt the weight of missed birthdays and empty bedrooms,
02:52journals left unfinished and dreams left unfulfilled.
02:57To every member that still feels a void every day of your lives, the First Lady and I unite with you in sorrow.
03:05And today, as one nation, we renew our sacred vow that we will never forget September 11, 2001.
03:17Amid the horror of that morning, some used cell phones and office lines whispered their final words to those who mattered most.
03:26At 8.59 a.m. aboard United Flight 175, Brian Sweeney called his wife, Julie.
03:36He told her,
03:37Do good.
03:39Go have good times.
03:40I totally love you.
03:42I'll see you again.
03:44I'll meet you up there.
03:46Four minutes later, his plane hit the south tower of the World Trade Center.
03:51At 9.12 a.m. aboard American Airlines Flight 77, Renee May called her mom.
04:01Just the day before, Renee had learned that she was seven weeks pregnant, but she never got the chance to share the news.
04:10She simply said,
04:11I love you, mom.
04:12Twenty-five minutes later, Renee's plane struck the Pentagon, so violent a strike it was.
04:23At 9.53 a.m. aboard United Flight 93, Elizabeth, Reneo, called her stepmom.
04:33They're getting ready to break into the cockpit.
04:36What do I do?
04:38I love you so much.
04:40They're going to break in.
04:42Ten minutes later, Flight 93 ended in the Hallowuk Field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
04:49At 10.25 a.m., Tom McGinnis was trapped on the 92nd floor of the North Tower when he told his wonderful wife, Elena,
05:00On the phone, there are people jumping from the floors above us.
05:07We get out of here.
05:09It'll be a total miracle.
05:11I love you, darling.
05:13Take care of Caitlin.
05:14Beautiful daughter.
05:16Three minutes later, the tower fell.
05:20Out of the ash, we witnessed the awesome power of that incredible love.
05:26We've seen it rise again.
05:27Out of the wreckage, we watched unbelievable courage suddenly take form.
05:33And out of the darkness, we saw the timeless truth of American character shine for the world to see.
05:42In America, we take blows, but we never buckle.
05:47We bleed, but we do not bow.
05:49And we defy the fear, endure the flames, and emerge from the crucible of every hardship, stronger, prouder, and greater than ever before.
06:01Last year, we were a dead country.
06:05Now we have the hottest country anywhere in the world.
06:11In New York, there were heroes like Chuck Costello, a 46-year-old elevator mechanic, and a member of the Knights of Columbus.
06:22He selflessly ran into the World Trade Center to free people trapped in the elevators.
06:29His body was not found until the following January, deep under the debris.
06:36While going through his belongings, Chuck's widow, Mary, a phenomenal woman, discovered a personal prayer written in his own words,
06:46Help me to light the way for those in the dark, and when I enter the darkness, let me not panic, but patiently wait to remember the light.
06:58Beautiful words.
06:59When the time came, Chuck ran boldly into the darkness of hell on earth, and now he shines in the light of heaven above.
07:08We remember him this morning, that day we learned that the American heroic spirit was all around us.
07:18We saw it in the police officers, the great firefighters, the service members here at the Pentagon, and in the hearts of every American who answered history's call.
07:29One such hero was Army Sergeant First Class Steve Workman, who was on the edge of the impact zone when this incredible Pentagon was hit.
07:43He was right there.
07:45After leading hundreds of people to escape routes, Steve turned back and plunged into the inferno itself.
07:52Pushing through the debris he came upon, a severely burned Navy lieutenant, the only survivor from the Navy Command Center.
08:01Only one.
08:03The wounded lieutenant looked into Steve Sewell and said,
08:06Don't let me die.
08:08Steve replied, I won't.
08:10I've got you.
08:11Just hang on.
08:13He wheeled the lieutenant out of the wreckage and the back of the maintenance cart before getting in the ambulance and taking him to Walter Reed Hospital.
08:22That man, Steve, saved Lieutenant Kevin Schaefer went on to join the elite team of CIA operatives who located Osama bin Laden.
08:34Steve, you're an American hero.
08:36We appreciate it.
08:38We appreciate what you've gone through.
08:41Please stand.
08:42Good looking man.
08:54Good looking guy.
08:56You remember that day.
08:58You remember that day.
09:00Good.
09:01Thank you very much, Steve.
09:06That was something.
09:08That was something.
09:09In the years that followed, America's warriors avenged, fallen, and sent an unmistakable message to every enemy around the world.
09:20If you attack the United States of America, we will hunt you down and we will find you.
09:27Go all over this sometimes magnificent earth.
09:31We will crush you down and we will crush you down and we will triumph without question.
09:38That's why we named the former Department of Defense the Department of War.
09:45It will be different.
09:48We won the First World War.
09:51We won the Second World War.
09:53We won everything before that and in between.
09:56And then we decided to change the name.
10:00Well, now we have it back to where we all want it.
10:03Everybody wanted it.
10:05Everybody is so happy to have it back.
10:09You will fail and America will win, win, win.
10:14The enemy will always fail.
10:17Twenty-four years have passed since that Tuesday morning in September.
10:21And an entire generation of Americans have come of age in a totally different world.
10:27While they cannot remember the agony of that day, they are carrying on the legacy of those who lost.
10:35Around 8.30 a.m. on the morning of the attacks, Army Lieutenant Colonel Kip Taylor sent an email to his friends and family describing the joys of fatherhood and his excitement for the upcoming birth of his unborn son.
10:48He wrote, after you have kids, there are days that you just get going and you say, hi, honey, I'm home.
10:57What we do until that moment pales in comparison.
11:02But just that little statement, hi, honey, so American, so beautiful.
11:08But that's really the point of it all, isn't it?
11:11An hour after he sent that email, Flight 77 flew into Colonel Taylor's Pentagon office and claimed the life of a very proud father, a true patriot.
11:22Six weeks later, on October 25, 2001, Colonel Taylor's son, Luke, was born.
11:30Luke then tragically lost his mom to cancer when he was just two years old, leaving him to be raised by his father's brother.
11:38As a young boy, Luke asked his uncle about the folded flag on the bookshelf.
11:46And when he learned about his dad's decades of devotion to the Army and the horrors of September 11th, that's when he learned.
11:55Luke carried that memory with him, enjoyed the ROTC as a college freshman.
12:00He graduated just last year, and I'm pleased to say he is with us today as a second lieutenant and doing very well.
12:06He's rising quickly in the infantry, preparing for Army Ranger School.
12:13The spitting image of his dad, they say, Luke says, that every time he puts on a uniform, he feels connected to his father and to our country.
12:23But it was a father he never knew.
12:26Luke, your parents are together in heaven, and they could not be prouder of the man that they have produced.
12:33They produced, they produced you.
12:35Those two great people produced you.
12:37Luke, please stand.
12:47Thank you, Luke.
12:49You look good, Luke.
12:50You look good.
12:52They're looking down on you.
12:53They're very proud.
12:53This morning, we recall the light of America's best and bravest and the love that they showed in their final moments.
13:02In their memory, we make a solemn pledge and a noble promise.
13:06We will honor always our great heroes.
13:10You are our heroes.
13:11There's a group of people that don't want to talk about our heroes, but we will always talk about our heroes.
13:19That's the way our country is, and that's the way the people feel.
13:24We will defend the nation they served, the values they upheld, and the freedom for which they died.
13:30We will support our troops.
13:32We will protect our families, and we will preserve the American way of life for every future generation.
13:40We will build taller, grow stronger, fight harder, and soar higher.
13:45And together, we will go forward as one people with one heart, one faith, one flag, and one glorious destiny under Almighty God.
13:55May God bless the memories of those who died and the heroes who fought and the soldiers who still stand watch.
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