Lt. Joe Torrillo, a FDNY hero who miraculously survived the collapse of the Twin Towers keynoted the 10th anniversary commemoration of 9/11 last Sunday at the Nixon Library, where ceremonies included a patriotic ensemble of choral and instrumental presentations, a Marine honor guard, and remarks by Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens, Congressman Ed Royce, and Freedom’s Flame 9/11 Memorial Founder Dennis Stout, who led efforts to bring the 20 tons of World Trade Center steel and damaged New York Fire Department truck to the Nixon Library last week. Nixon Foundation President Sandy Quinn was the master of ceremonies.
A crowd of over thousand packed the East Room to hear Lt. Torrillo talk about stories of heroism from the day America was attacked, and the strength and resolve the nation displayed in its darkest hour.
“If I want to do anything in my life – and I want to do forever – is to make this country the Re-united States of America again,” Torrillo said. “This country will come back and it will comeback even stronger”… “I only hope that everyone of us would feel a moral obligation to leave this country a better one than we inherited from all of those who persevered hundreds of years before us.”
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Photo: Former FDNY Lt. Joe Torrillo, a first-responder who survived the collapse of the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001, keynoted 10th Anniversary commemoration ceremonies at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library.