[Daffynition]

Bob Beckwith (NYC fireman embraced by President Bush)

THEN

When retired New York firefighter Bob Beckwith stood at President Bush’s side at the still smoldering Ground Zero just days after 9/11, he quickly became an iconic image of the nation’s strength and resilience in the wake of the attacks.

Beckwith was inspired to help in the rescue efforts at Ground Zero after he learned that one of a former colleague’s sons was among the hundreds of missing firefighters. He donned his old helmet, made his way downtown and convinced authorities at the heavily guarded perimeter to let him join the efforts.

And when, a few days later, Beckwith heard Bush was coming to the site to see the devastation first-hand, he scrambled up on top of a burned-out out fire truck to get a better look at the president.

Next thing he knew, Beckwith was helping Bush onto the back of the truck as the crowd chanted “U.S.A., U.S.A.” As the cheers died down, Bush pulled the 69-year-old Beckwith near and began speaking.

Someone from the crowd yelled that they couldn’t hear him. Bush, with his arm draped around Beckwith, shouted into his bullhorn: "I can hear you, the rest of the world hears you, and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon.”

The president’s words were met with wild cheers from the crowd. The whooping and the hollering -- and the sight of a elderly fireman doing his best in the face of tragedy -- reassured people across the country that the spirit of the nation was bruised, but not crushed.

THEN

Beckwith is back to his retirement, having left the Ladder 164 firehouse in Queens in 1994 after 29 years on the job. But it hasn’t been shuffleboard and senior centers for the father of six and grandfather of ten.

Beckwith stays in touch with President Bush -- he last visited the White House for a Christmas party in December 2007 and recently received a letter when the president learned that Beckwith’s daughter had cancer.

“He wrote a nice letter to her and to us when he found out about it,” he said in a recent phone interview with msnbc.com. “He’s a nice regular guy, President Bush, he’s a nice person.”

Beckwith also travels the world speaking and raising money for the New York Firefighters Burn Center Foundation. He helps the foundation get contributions “to help all the people that get burned, help out with the research and help relieve the pain.” To this end, Beckwith has spoken at St. Paul’s Chapel, a landmark church near Ground Zero, and on Irish and German TV programs, he said.

Seven years after the Sept. 11 attacks, Beckwith still thinks about that day. “It is part of my life and I do think about it all the time,” he told msnbc.com. He also thinks about the people who worked at Ground Zero in the aftermath of the attacks and have since suffered numerous illnesses. “These guys are getting sick and are dying and nobody is taking care of their families,” he said.

[Tarpon]

The most telling thing is no more attacks on the homeland ... That’s all you need to know.

[Diogenesis]

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

George Santayana

[Daffynition]

Thomas E. Franklin / The Bergen Record file Three firemen with flag at Ground Zero

THEN

It is one of the most enduring images from 9/11: three New York firefighters -- Daniel McWilliams, George Johnson and William “Billy” Eisengrein -- hoisting an American flag in the midst of chaos and ruins of the destroyed World Trade Center late on the afternoon of Sept. 11.

The photo, captured by Thomas E. Franklin, a staff photographer for The Record in Bergen County, N.J., was quickly picked up by newspapers, magazines and television networks. Reminiscent of Joe Rosenthal’s iconic image of U.S. troops raising a flag on Iwo Jima during World War II it struck a chord with editors and readers everywhere.

The photo, which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and won numerous national photojournalism awards, was used for a special U.S. Postal Service stamp released in March 2002 to raise funds for families of emergency workers killed or permanently disabled as a result of the 9/11 attacks.

NOW

All three of the firefighters featured in the iconic image are still working for the New York Fire Department, according to officials.

Daniel McWilliams, 42, a longtime veteran of the department, is now a lieutenant with Battalion 37 in Brooklyn. On April 15, 2007, according to an online report by Robert Glynn, chief of Battalion 43, he was awarded the Dr. John F. Connell Medal for his “leadership and tenacity” in a “highly successful lifesaving operation.” McWilliams and his family live in Massapequa Park, Long Island.

George Johnson, 43, is a captain with the NYFD and works out of Division 13 in Queens, where he also lives. Bill Eisengrein, 44, is a firefighter at the Rescue 2 unit in Brooklyn. He has been with the NYFD for more than 20 years. The department said it could provide no further information other than the fact of their continued service.

[PeterFinn]

Thanks for posting this.

[originalbuckeye]

I have several lasting memories of the families that we all took to heart during the aftermath of 9/11. One that always brings tears to my eyes was the story about Jeremy Glick’s (Flight 93) last call to his wife. In this call he told her that he trusted every decision that she would ever make for their then 3 month old daughter, Emerson. This and the information about Todd Beamer shows what real men do. They take charge and do the heavy lifting. These men likely knew they would not survive their attempt to take over that plane. They, and the rest of those on Flight 93, were the real first-responders in our new world. Prayers to all those who lost loved ones on that life-changing day.