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Remembering 9/11 one victim at a time (Freeper-written tribute to BCM & BKO)
Freeport Ink (Illinois) | 7 September 06 | Me

Posted on 09/06/2006 8:52:24 PM PDT by Mr. Silverback

In the next few days you’ll hear a lot about the nearly 3,000 people killed on September 11, 2001. I’d like to tell you about just two of them, two people whose names I look for every time I see a list of the casualties. Let me tell you about Ted’s wife and Ryan and Dylan’s dad.

Barbara Olson started out as a ballerina and ended up as a famous lawyer. She danced with the San Francisco Ballet and the Harkness Ballet in New York City, then moved on to Hollywood because working as an assistant producer would allow her to save up for law school. She worked for Stacy Keach’s production company and HBO before going to Yeshiva University. She eventually served as an Assistant U.S. attorney and as chief investigative counsel for the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee, where she looked into Travelgate and Filegate. After the publication of her bestseller “Hell to Pay” she became a frequent guest on TV political shows to represent the conservative point of view.

Her husband Ted said she was a popular guest because she was “very direct” but at the same time “very pleasant.” She could disagree without a trace of rancor, a sunny smile on her beautiful face. But she wasn’t just a talking head. “She was always full of energy, sparkling all the time,” her husband told Newsday, adding that “his three small granddaughters would follow her around ‘like little ducks’” and “thought she was the best thing in the world.”

Barbara was on Flight 77 because she had shifted her schedule to spend more time with Ted for his birthday. He talked to her just before she died. Ted Olson was the Solicitor General at the time, and she called to tell him they’d been hijacked, asking him what she should tell the pilot. They had time to discuss personal matters and reassure each other, and then, he said, “the connection was broken.” Not long after that, Flight 77 struck the Pentagon.

John Moran also had an ambition to be a lawyer and held a law degree from Fordham University. But firefighting was the family business and more suited to his personality, so he joined the FDNY. In an irony that must be especially painful for her, John met his wife Kim on September 11, 1990. His fire station was across the street from her apartment. “I just fell in love with him instantly,” she said a few days after his death, while she and their sons, 7 year old Ryan and 4 year old Dylan, were still hoping he’d come home.

John didn’t have to be in the World Trade Center that day. A Battalion Chief with 22 years of service, he was part of the department’s Special Operations Command, which oversees special rescue companies, fireboats, hazmat units and major incidents. He had just finished a shift, but when the call came in, he “jumped in the truck and away they went,” Kim said.

John’s funeral was conducted by his uncle, Father Paul Moran. John was lost he said, on “a mission of love.” Mayor Giuliani asked for the mourners to give John a standing ovation and said he wanted the Moran boys “to understand for their entire life that their father is a great man.” His brother Michael, a firefighter who survived serving at the Trade Center—and later became famous for defiantly telling Osama bin-Laden to come to Rockaway and kiss his “royal Irish ass”—said “I didn't see him there that day, but now I see him all the time.”

But the best eulogy a man could ask for was what his relatives told Newsday just a few days after his death. Kim Moran said, “He's the love of my life…a wonderful father, a great husband. There's nobody more generous than John.” His cousin, Democrat Congressman Joe Crowley described him as “a Viking Irishman who has calves thicker than my thighs, the heart of lion and touch of a teddy bear.”

I picked John and Barbara because they were both members of Free Republic, an internet forum I’ve posted to for years, but I didn’t know either of them. I didn’t even cross paths with them and “know” them in the online sense, as far as I remember. But that’s irrelevant. I could have picked any of those we lost that day and found something glorious or generous or beautiful about them that would have amazed you the way John’s bravery and Barbara’s joy and determination amaze me.

We didn’t lose almost 3,000 people that day. We lost one wonderful person at a time, almost 3,000 times.

In a sense, Giuliani was right on that bright September afternoon when he said that we had lost “more than we can bear.”


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Editorial; Foreign Affairs; Free Republic; News/Current Events; US: Illinois; US: New York; US: Virginia; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: 911; bcm; bko; fifthanniversary; silverback
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For those who don't know, Barbara and John were Freepers BKO and BCM respectively. Both represented what's great about FR and conservatism. Both went out fighting. I think of them, and people like them, often.

If anyone wants on or off my column ping list, please notify me here or by freepmail. These columns run every two weeks.

1 posted on 09/06/2006 8:52:28 PM PDT by Mr. Silverback
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To: 185JHP; afraidfortherepublic; aragona; arthurus; BlessedByLiberty; blitzgig; Blurblogger; ...

Silverback's column ping!

If anyone wants on or off my column ping list, please notify me here or by freepmail. These columns run every two weeks.

2 posted on 09/06/2006 8:56:37 PM PDT by Mr. Silverback (NewsMax gives aid and comfort to the enemy-- http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1642052/posts)
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To: 68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub; Kathy in Alaska; Fawnn; bentfeather; HiJinx; Radix; Spotsy; ...

Ping!


3 posted on 09/06/2006 8:57:14 PM PDT by Mr. Silverback (NewsMax gives aid and comfort to the enemy-- http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1642052/posts)
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To: Mr. Silverback

Bump


4 posted on 09/06/2006 8:58:05 PM PDT by Enterprise (Let's not enforce laws that are already on the books, let's just write new laws we won't enforce.)
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To: Mr. Silverback

Appreciative bump.


5 posted on 09/06/2006 8:58:58 PM PDT by facedown (Armed in the Heartland)
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To: Cyber Liberty; Johnny Gage

Ping!


6 posted on 09/06/2006 9:01:06 PM PDT by Mr. Silverback (NewsMax gives aid and comfort to the enemy-- http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1642052/posts)
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To: Jon Alvarez; T'wit; 911 still fresh for this NYer; firebrand; StarFan; Dutchy; alisasny; ...

NYC Ping!


7 posted on 09/06/2006 9:02:15 PM PDT by Mr. Silverback (NewsMax gives aid and comfort to the enemy-- http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1642052/posts)
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To: kristinn; Exit148; hobblemaster; YourAdHere; Doctor Raoul; Angelwood; tgslTakoma; staytrue; ...

DC Ping!


8 posted on 09/06/2006 9:02:44 PM PDT by Mr. Silverback (NewsMax gives aid and comfort to the enemy-- http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1642052/posts)
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To: facedown

Thanks face.


9 posted on 09/06/2006 9:03:10 PM PDT by Mr. Silverback (NewsMax gives aid and comfort to the enemy-- http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1642052/posts)
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To: Mr. Silverback

Great post.
BUMP


10 posted on 09/06/2006 9:03:42 PM PDT by Lancey Howard
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To: Mr. Silverback; Howlin
What a beautiful tribute to both Barbara and John and to each of the individuals who lost their lives that day.

WE MUST NEVER FORGET!

11 posted on 09/06/2006 9:03:50 PM PDT by kayak (Praying for MozartLover's son, Jemian's son, all our military, and our President every day!)
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To: Mr. Silverback

A beautiful voice silenced.

RIP.

12 posted on 09/06/2006 9:04:52 PM PDT by Samwise (All that is needed for evil to triumph is that good men do nothing.)
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To: Mr. Silverback

Thank you for the ping. Beautifully written.

Never forget!

Bump!


13 posted on 09/06/2006 9:05:03 PM PDT by Fawnn (Canteen wOOhOO Consultant and CookingWithPam.com person - Faith makes things possible, not easy.)
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To: potlatch; devolve; PhilDragoo; Smartass; bitt; Seadog Bytes

R.I.P. ping


14 posted on 09/06/2006 9:05:54 PM PDT by ntnychik
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To: Mr. Silverback

Great piece, thanks for posting.


15 posted on 09/06/2006 9:06:13 PM PDT by jazusamo (DIANA IREY for Congress, PA 12th District: Retire murtha.)
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To: Mr. Silverback

Thank you Mr. Sliverback.


16 posted on 09/06/2006 9:06:20 PM PDT by Cindy
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To: Mr. Silverback


17 posted on 09/06/2006 9:07:27 PM PDT by Howlin
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To: Mr. Silverback

John Moran

RIP

18 posted on 09/06/2006 9:07:43 PM PDT by Samwise (All that is needed for evil to triumph is that good men do nothing.)
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To: Mr. Silverback

Thanks, that was wonderful.


19 posted on 09/06/2006 9:07:48 PM PDT by A CA Guy (God Bless America, God bless and keep safe our fighting men and women.)
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To: Mr. Silverback

Great post.

Michelle Malkin has something up her site about blogs doing a remembrance of all of those whose lives were taken.

http://michellemalkin.com/archives/005871.htm

(There is some DU ugliness, but scroll down.)


20 posted on 09/06/2006 9:08:21 PM PDT by KJC1
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