Tribute WTC Visitor Center - 9/11: the world speaks

Lee Ielpi volunteered with his local Great Neck Vigilant Fire Department. He spent his career as a firefighter with the New York City Fire Department serving as a member of Rescue 2. Since losing his son Jonathan Lee Ielpi, Squad 288, FDNY, at the World Trade Center, Lee has dedicated himself to responding to the attacks on the World Trade Center with an eye towards making tomorrow a better day. He joined with the September 11th Families Association in November 2001 to represent the interests of the 9/11 community. Lee has served on the Board of Directors since 2002 and has served as the Board President since 2007. In 2004, Lee along with Jennifer Adams cofounded the Tribute WTC Visitor Center. Lee is a native of Great Neck, New York. He is a father of two girls, Anne Marie and Melissa, and two boys, Jonathan and Brendan, and grandfather of seven grandchildren.

The Tribute WTC Visitor Center is located at 120 Liberty Street in New York City along the south side of the World Trade Center site. The Tribute Center was created by the September 11th Families Association, a section 501(c)3 non-profit corporation, to support and share the personal stories of victims, survivors, rescue and recovery workers, residents of Lower Manhattan, and volunteers who responded to help in the recovery. Today, volunteers representing all of these constituencies share their stories daily with visitors to the Tribute Center and on walking tours of the World Trade Center site. Volunteers share the authentic experiences of those most affected by the events of February 26, 1993, and September 11, 2001. In the Tribute Center, visitors experience person-to-person accounts through videos, audios, and printed quotations. The stories recount the dynamism of the World Trade Center community prior to September 11, 2001, the day of the attacks, the nine months of recovery, and a poignant memorial to the victims where photographs contributed by their families are displayed. The Tribute Center concludes by offering visitors a place to engage in dialogue about 9/11 and share their own feelings and thoughts about the future on visitor cards.

The Tribute Center conveys the courage, grief, and heroism of those who responded to the tragedy and the steps taken towards working for a more peaceful world by many of those impacted by the events. The Tribute Center welcomes visitors seven days a week. Please visit our website for details: www.tributewtc.org. The Tribute Centers educational materials for young people emphasize the humanity and compassion that arose in response to the acts of terrorism on September 11, 2001: www.tributewtc.org/programs/toolkit.html.

Thank you to the Board of Directors of the September 11th Families Association: Howard Cash, Beth Dannhauser, Tom Fontana, Billy Goldfeder, Richard Kennedy, Larry Levy, Cristyne Nicholas, Dan Nigro, Marc Silberberg, and Dennis Smith for your leadership, support, and enthusiasm. The book has been made possible by Jennifer Adams for her idea, inspiration, and total commitment to creating the Tribute WTC Visitor Center from the ground up and ensuring it thrives. Many on our staff have played a role in putting the book together. I would like to thank Wendy Aibel-weiss for her creative direction of the Tribute Center and for originating the idea of placing the visitor cards in the Tribute Center. I am grateful to our curator Meriam Lobel, with whom I have been reading and appreciating these cards over these past five years, for her initiative and devotion to choosing a broad selection of individual messages to be published in a book. Caroline Bevan has been a masterful manager of the card collection and prepared them for publication. Josie Chiles has provided guidance and enthusiasm. Thank you to Josephine Brune who for the past two years has volunteered her time lovingly reading and organizing the cards. I sincerely appreciate the dedication and expertise of the lawyers at Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, the team at Christopher Little Literary Agency, and everyone at Globe Pequot Press, especially Lara Asher. A very special thank you to our remarkable 9/11 community volunteers whose willingness to share their stories make the experience at the Tribute Center a meaningful personal exchange.

These voices represent a few of the visitors who have come to the Tribute WTC Visitor Center over the past five years.

Copyright 2011 by Tribute WTC Visitor Center

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission should be addressed to Globe Pequot Press, Attn: Rights and Permissions Department, P.O. Box 480, Guilford, CT 06437.

Lyons Press is an imprint of Globe Pequot Press.

Project editors: Lara Asher and Kristen Mellitt

Designer: Diana Nuhn

Layout: Maggie Peterson

Map Morris Book Publishing, LLC

Grateful acknowledgment to the following for granting permission for use of their artwork:

Peter Arnell: p. 19

George Harkins: pp. 33, 51, 71, 111, 155

Alan Klein: p. ix

Joelle Maslaton: p. 242

Stan Ries: pp. 29, 59, 101, 118-119, 211

Tiles for America Project, Contemporary Ceramic Studio Association (tiles) and Jack Ader (photographs): pp. 23, 44, 89, 239

Tribute WTC Visitor Center: p. ix

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

ISBN 978-0-7627-7799-0

Printed in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

For all young people worldwide. We cant change what happened on September 11, 2001, but we can change tomorrow. Through education and understanding we can make tomorrow a better day.

I am honored to lend my voice to the Tribute Center project. This gives a voice to the thousands of those who visit Ground Zero, the site of a mass murder on American soil.

Since September 11, 2001, I have had the opportunity to travel and discuss this horrible day with both the families of the victims and with world leaders. I have been deeply moved to hear messages of support, anger, loss, fear, and even hope from around the globe. These words have sustained my own sense of purpose over the years and helped remind me that what happened to us in New York City also happened to the world. The world was with us when the Towers fell, and we must keep the memory of that universal feeling of connection and sympathy alive, or this monstrous act will surely be repeated.

On September 11, 2001, the world saw evil incarnate on its television screens. But something else was on display, as well. As firefighters and police rushed in to lead the biggest evacuation in American history, we witnessed incredible courage and selflessness. That inspired our entire country and indeed represented the very first step toward recovery as the terrorists who sought to break our spirit realized we were stronger than anyone realized.

There is a tradition at the Western Wall in Jerusalem for visitors to leave prayers and messages. The Tribute Center has a similar program, and visitors are encouraged to leave notes and artwork about their visit. This book contains examples of the remarkable letters they have shared.