CLEVELAND, September 11 — BLE International President Don M. Hahs issued the following statement regarding September 11:
On September 11, 2001, our nation suffered the most devastating and cowardly attack ever on our soil. Our world changed that day.
Two years ago, thousands of ordinary people went to work and never returned home. Thousands more demonstrated extraordinary heroism. Hundreds of BLE members were among those heroes, running trains and transporting the survivors to safety.
The characteristic that heroes and victims alike had in common was that they were ordinary workers — just like all of us — whose lives were irrevocably changed by the circumstances of September 11. For the dead, we mourned. For the heroes, we are grateful.
Today, the mourning and the gratitude continue. The working people of this nation — the heroes — have gone back to their ordinary lives, but their contributions to this nation will never be forgotten.
On the second anniversary of that horrible day, we vow to never forget the extraordinary workers who performed heroic acts that day. We must never forget. We will never forget.