Seven years since the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and Flight 93 gone awry–
2,751 died in the Twin Towers attacks (CNN). With over 2,000 children left behind and their lives changed forever. The official list of casualties, including First-Responders, can be found at http://msnbc.com/modules/wtc/victims/default.asp?p=5&cp1=1
The math in each site does not agree–this is the Wikipedia summary (and none of the totals agree from one referenced section of that site to another)–we really don’t know how many lost their lives. We only know the claims that were submitted. And the ones who were declared missing.
19 hijackers
246 passengers on four planes including 40 on Flight 93 who died in Shanksville PA
2,603/4 at the Twin Towers
125 at the Pentagon
411 First Responders and emergency workers
1 woman who died later from lung disease
24 missing
and over 10,000 bone fragments and tissues.
Total: 2974/75 death toll from 90 different countries.
Today, they unveiled the memorial to those who died at the Pentagon. A remarkable memorial. The memorials for Shanksville PA and the Twin Towers are not completed. These memorials will celebrate the dead.
What of the living? The more than 2,000 children. The dusty, exhausted First Responders and rescue workers who came from all over the country and foreign lands as well. The almost 7,000 who were injured. The President of the United States. The clergy. The Mayor of the city. The press corps. The government personnel who were sent into empty air space or secreted in underground bunkers to protect our precious right to self-government. The drivers of supply caravans and personnel in soup kitchens and field hospitals. And the medical staffs of hospitals and clinics.
There is no master list of these participants on this never-to-be-forgotten day. Only the War Zone itself and the memoirs or memories of those who were there and God know the names on this list.
With hard-core research in a vast variety of records, we could draft preliminary lists. And there is probably no way to document them all.
And thus it is with all the major events and the small personal happenings in the lives of your ancestors. You might have a tradition that your ancestor served with Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain boys. Or threaded through the swamps by night with Francis Marion, the Swamp Fox. Check the lists that survive.
And keep your tradition. Describe it in your family history. Tell your grandchildren about it and suggest they remember the details. EVEN IF the list does not name your ancestor. Think of 9/11 and all the unrecorded participants. Just be sure to state that the lists do not name your ancestor. Your favorite genealogist, Arlene Eakle http://www.arleneeakle.com
In Memoriam: Eldon Griffin, Garland UT. This dedicated genealogist died 6 Sep 2008. When I first was asked to visit the Family History Center in Tremonton UT, he was there. While I served as Librarian for more than 15 years, he was there. When I needed instruction on how to do something on the computer, he was there. And he will be missed.
PS Research completed: Pryor, Stratton, Lowry