Never Forget: Honoring 9/11 Victim Mildred Rose Naiman

It is so important to keep the memory of those who died on 9/11 alive and to honor them. Individual lives can get lost in the intolerable and overwhelming number killed on 9/11, so we owe it to each of them to remember them as more than just one in 3,000.

Every year on this blog I repost this September 11th tribute as part of Project 2,996, an initiative that seeks to honor the memory of every one of the victims of the terrorist attack:

Mildred Rose Naiman was 81 and from Andover, MA, the town next to my hometown. According to WBZ Boston, over 200 people with ties to Massachusetts died on 9-11-01.

"Millie," as she was known to her loved ones, was on her way to California to visit her 2 sons, grandchildren and great-grandchildren when she was killed. She was aboard American Airlines Flight 11, the first plane to be hijacked and crashed into the World Trade Center.

Born on March 24, 1920, Mildred Naiman worked at Western Electric Co. as a tester. In her later years, she lived in a self-proclaimed "bachelorette pad" - her apartment in a retirement community - where she was active in planning and organizing events with her friends.

In a profile published on January 6, 2002, her daughter-in-law, Carol Naiman, told the New York Times, "She had a little bit of a lead foot. She had been stopped for speeding and was totally insulted the officer would give an old woman a ticket."

Although the feisty great-grandmother had had several knee replacement surgeries, cataracts, and other health problems, she still loved to travel. Her son Russ said, "If something was wrong with her, she'd go to the doctor and say, 'Fix me up; I've got a lot of traveling to do.' "

While she needed the help of a wheelchair at the airport, she still managed to visit her family twice a year. The Sunday before her fatal flight, a family member had asked if she was afraid of flying; her granddaughter, Hope, remembers her reply: "No, I've gone everywhere already--to Germany, the Bahamas. I'm not afraid to fly."

Incredibly, on July 24, 2004, the New York Post reported that the medical examiner's office had identified her remains. Many 9-11 victims are still unaccounted for. I hope her family gained some sense of closure with this discovery and was able to finally put her body to rest.

Today, on the anniversary of her death, we celebrate the life of Mildred Rose Naiman.

May she, and the others tragically murdered on that day, rest in peace.

9-11: NEVER FORGIVE, NEVER FORGET

 

Days before 9/11 Obama authorizes additional embassy security for Baghdad

On Tuesday, the White House announced that it's sending more troops to Iraq to protect the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad:

Press secretary Josh Earnest said in a statement that that the Defense Department authorization stemmed from a State Department request for “approximately 350 additional U.S. military personnel to protect our diplomatic facilities and personnel.”

“This action was taken at the recommendation of the Department of Defense after an extensive interagency review, and is part of the President’s commitment to protect our personnel and facilities in Iraq as we continue to support the Government of Iraq in its fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). These additional forces will not serve in a combat role,” Earnest said.

Thank God Obama seems to have learned from Benghazi that you don't deny State Department requests for more embassy security in a volatile region of the world - especially ahead of the anniversary of 9/11.

The PJ Tatler notes:

It also comes after Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) warned Sunday that Baghdad could be the next to fall.

“I believe their goal is Baghdad. I think it’s very, very serious and we have to have a strategy to deal with it in Syria and in Iraq in this new caliphate and to prevent that caliphate from expanding,” she said, stressing that ISIS “is on its way to Baghdad and I believe that they will try to attack our embassy from the West, which is a Sunni area where I believe they are infiltrating now.”

Scary stuff!

The infuriating part is that if we hadn't left in 2011, we wouldn't have to go back in now and the world would be a much safer place. Obama better get a strategy quick or ISIS is going to do a LOT worse than have a pool party at our embassy.

Originally posted at The Political Insider

Project 2,996 September 11th tribute to Mildred Rose Naiman

Every year, I post a Project 2,996* September 11th tribute to Mildred Rose Naiman. The following is the text from my original 2007 post which was written on the sixth anniversary of 9/11:

My September 11th tribute as part of Project 2,996 is to Mildred Rose Naiman, 81, from Andover, MA, the town next to my hometown. According to WBZ Boston, over 200 people with ties to Massachusetts died on 9-11-01.

"Millie," as she was known to her loved ones, was on her way to California to visit her 2 sons, grandchildren and great-grandchildren when she was killed. She was aboard American Airlines Flight 11, the first plane to be hijacked and crashed into the World Trade Center.

Born on March 24, 1920, Mildred Naiman worked at Western Electric Co. as a tester. In her later years, she lived in a self-proclaimed "bachelorette pad" - her apartment in a retirement community - where she was active in planning and organizing events with her friends.

In a profile published on January 6, 2002, her daughter-in-law, Carol Naiman, told the New York Times, "She had a little bit of a lead foot. She had been stopped for speeding and was totally insulted the officer would give an old woman a ticket."

Although the feisty great-grandmother had had several knee replacement surgeries, cataracts, and other health problems, she still loved to travel. Her son Russ said, "If something was wrong with her, she'd go to the doctor and say, 'Fix me up; I've got a lot of traveling to do.' "

While she needed the help of a wheelchair at the airport, she still managed to visit her family twice a year. The Sunday before her fatal flight, a family member had asked if she was afraid of flying; her granddaughter, Hope, remembers her reply: "No, I've gone everywhere already--to Germany, the Bahamas. I'm not afraid to fly."

Incredibly, on July 24, 2004, the New York Post reported that the medical examiner's office had identified her remains. Many 9-11 victims are still unaccounted for. I hope her family gained some sense of closure with this discovery and was able to finally put her body to rest.

Today, on the sixth anniversary of her death, we celebrate the life of Mildred Rose Naiman.

May she, and the other 2,995 tragically murdered on that day, rest in peace.


9-11: NEVER FORGIVE, NEVER FORGET


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*Project 2,996 is an important online initiative to keep the memory of those who died on 9/11 alive and to honor them each through individual memorials.  For those of us who were fortunate to not have lost anyone on that day, it really personalizes and brings home each loss.  Their individual lives can get lost in the intolerable and overwhelming number killed on 9/11, so we owe it to each of them to make them more than just one of 3,000.  Because links have gotten old and broken, there are thousands of 9/11 victims who no longer have a memorial blog post - please go to Project 2,996 to learn more and participate on your own blog.

9/12: I Never Want To Forget

After sharing my memories of the day of 9/11, I wanted to be sure to record what I never want to forget about living the next few months in a post-9/11 world. 

I never want to forget being hesitant to go see the musical "Mamma Mia!" in Boston the following night, how it felt wrong to go out and enjoy yourself.  I never want to forget the cast coming out and talking about their similar hesitation and ending with a rousing rendition of God Bless America.

I never want to forget my dad and I staying home for the first New England Patriots game when the NFL started playing again - it was against the New York Jets and the symbolism of the Patriots vs. the Jets with the potential for a terrorist attack was not lost on us - and feeling sheepish afterwards when everything was ok.

I never want to forget bursting with patriotism and American pride, covering my car with whatever patriotic sticker or American flag I could get my hands on.  I never want to forget driving the lake by my house with Lisa, Amanda, Chris and Ryan, blasting "Proud to be an American" and Whitney Houston's version of the "National Anthem," stopping at any policeman, fireman, or military man we saw to say, "Thank you for serving our country!"

I never want to forget our school holding an assembly in the following days featuring speeches by state Rep. Brad Jones, and others, and worrying that people like my leftist teacher Mr. Ryan might turn it into a lovey-dovey peacefest, so I volunteered to give a speech.  I've already forgotten what my speech said, but I never want to forget that my opening lines were: "Does anyone have any personal connections to the victims of 9/11?  The truth is we all do.  We are all Americans."

I never want to forget how the world changed on that day, how insignificant it felt to be going to high school and college, how I wanted to quit school and do something meaningful like become an army nurse.  I never want to forget taking California schools off my list - if there was another terrorist attack, I didn't want to be cut off from my family for days, I needed to be close enough to drive home in an emergency.

I never want to forget the spirit of unity and patriotism that swept the country and left us with such hope for the future, and the sadness as it faded over the weeks and months and years, seeing fewer and fewer flags, watching the media get less and less patriotic - even talking "quagmire" within days of our assault on Afghanistan.

I never want to forget any of the events and actions I made in the weeks that followed 9/11, as insignificant as they may be they are mine and now they are forever.

Photo: Heartbreakingly Beautiful

9/11/11

9/11: I Never Want To Forget

As I sit here on the 10th anniversary of 9/11, the thing I am most afraid of is forgetting.  I don't cry as hard anymore.  The hurt and pain, while still there, doesn't cut quite so deep.  The anger isn't as raw.  What if I forget my thoughts, feelings, and experiences from that day?

My memories of 9/11 aren't particularly important, meaningful, or even interesting, but they are mine, and I never want to forget.  I never want to forget walking to 4th period English during my senior year of high school, passing Emily L. talking excitedly and annimatedly to John B. about a plane hitting a building.  I never want to forget walking by them, not even pausing, assuming she was telling him about some new movie.

I never want to forget our substitute teacher telling us about the attacks after at least one tower had gone down.  I never want to forget that Jen M. and I spent the period online trying to find out what was going on and seeing a photo of one of the towers crashing.  I never want to forget how slow the internet was or how my cell phone had no service because of the millions of people searching for news and calling loved ones.

I never want to forget going to next period with Mr. Darren for social studies and talking about the attacks.  I never want to forget the fearful excitement I felt when we were told there were unaccounted for planes coming up the eastern seaboard, that the State Department had been bombed, the National Mall was on fire, and buildings in Boston were being evacuated over bomb scares.  I never want to forget the fear that one of those planes could be headed this way, that Boston could be next, the irrational fear that a plane could crash on my school.

I never want to forget knowing how historic the day was, using a payphone to get my parents to pick me up at lunch so I could watch tv and see what was going on.  I never want to forget getting home and watching the planes hit the towers, the towers burning, then falling, again and again and again.  I never want to forget hearing that up to 50,000 people worked in those buildings and the death toll could be almost that high.  I never want to forget the hope that survivors would be found.  I never want to forget the family members, holding pictures of their loved ones, going in front of cameras, hoping someone had seem them alive after the towers fell. 

I never want to forget that the whole day felt like a movie, only without a soundtrack, and when I played the Titanic soundtrack, I broke down and cried.  I never want to forget cancelling my trip to look at colleges in DC the following weekend and my dad saying everything would be fine by then - it wasn't, the airports were still shutdown and Reagan was closed for longer.  I never want to forget the eerie quiet outside for days, with the airplanes grounded.

While these are things I am afraid to forget there are some things I will always remember.

I will always remember the firefighters, police and other rescue workers who ran into the buildings to save lives.  I will always remember the 2,996 people who perished on that day and will keep their memories alive.  I will always remember Todd Beamer saying, "Let's roll!" and the passengers of Flight 93 launching the first counterstrike in the new War on Terror.  I will always remember the horror, the heroism, and the hope of that day. (More memories of the days that followed can be read here)

9-11 NEVER FORGET

9/11: I Am Overcome

This video made me cry.



I also did not appreciate seeing Obama ads while watching 9/11 tributes. Look at this wording - SO WRONG:

Screen shot from this video.
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