And we're here this evening to begin our exhibit The Tower of light here at the Pentagon in memory of all the Souls lost on September 11, 2001 before we began and I introduced our guests today. Um I just like to give a special, thank you to all of the men and women of the Department of Defense and especially the folks here at the Pentagon headed by Jim and his team who have done absolute wonders here to make this happen for the families of of the September 11 11 victims as well as our. At the FAA, the men and women of the FAA worked tirelessly to help us get this done um and we are so grateful to be here today. I'd like to introduce James Leche, who's the executive director of the Pentagon Memorial Fund. Thank you, Matt and uh man. thank everybody. who's still here and all this rain. Um my name is Jim Blaze is as you said, and my brother, Dave was still in the Pentagon on 911. It's hard to believe that it was 19 years ago today and as a result of that uh tragedy in that event, I uh work with a group of family members uh to create the Pentagon Memorial Fund and we work very closely with the Pentagon starting in 2003 and we raised uh the money to design build and dedicate the pent. And on September 11, 2008, it was the first of the three national nine-eleven memorials to be dedicated in this country and now our focus is on the Pentagon Memorial funds focuses on building a visitor education center to complement the memorial when you think about it 19 years ago, there's a whole generation of uh people that are growing up that have no memory of 911. They don't remember what we all felt when we saw the towers or the planes hit the tower. In the towers fell when the plane hit the Pentagon uh when we heard about the crash in Shanksville so um one of the things that we're focusing on in our business education centers the idea of active remembrance. It's the idea of always remembering and never forgetting so when we do things like this, we honor the memory of our loved ones and I wanna thank of you here today I wanna thank uh the Pentagon team and the tunnel of the towers team for what they're doing because this active remem. Honors the memory of my brother and all the people that died in the Pentagon and all the people that died in New York City and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. So thank you very much. Thank you. Jim. We're extremely honored to here today to have someone who really um has brought so many resources to bare her staff has been enormously successful and really represents in the very best ways the Department of Defense and that's the honorable Lisa Ashman, Lisa Thank you so much for being here today. Well, thank you and good evening everyone. It's an honor to welcome you uh to the Pentagon on behalf of Secretary Esther and the men and women of our armed forces as well as the thousands of dedicated civilian personnel of the Department of Defense who serve here in the national capital region. A special welcome to mister Frank CEO of tunnels to Towers and to mister Jim Leche. Executive director of the Pentagon's uh Memorial Fund for their roles in tonight's observance, I know this event has special significance to both Frank and Jim to Frank. who's brother Stephen, a New York City firefighter who gave his life serving others in the World Trade Center and to gym as he mentioned who lost his younger brother Dave in the attack on the Pentagon. Also like to recognize my colleague, Tom Director of Washington headquarters services at the Pentagon for his great work in bringing tonight's special remembrance together. America was born of a great hope, a vision for freedom and liberty shaped by the power of democracy and preserved by the vigilant defenders of the values that we hold so dear the brave men and women who serve our armed forces and the Department of Defense. We are all familiar with the stories of those who have pledged their service in defense of America, risking their. Distant battlefields but on September 11th, 2001 the attack on our homeland came as a shock to the nation at the World Trade Center in New York in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania and here in the nation's capital nearly 3000 lost their lives and families were torn apart in the blink of an eye. It is an indelible time in America's history, but I also think it holds meaning for our future. I believe our nation's future depends in part by acting upon our hopes and dreams, but it is understanding and preserving our history even in tragedy that we mold and strengthen in our courage and wisdom. it is only. Embracing the memories of the great trials we have faced that we are equipped to anticipate and overcome the challenges of the future. This is one reason that I appreciate the world of the work of towers to tunnels and developing this memorial event helping to ensure that we preserve the memory of those who were lost honor the selfless acts of so many heroes who served that faithful day and those who responded to defend our freedoms and protect our nations across the globe. It is in that spirit of remembrance and hope for the future that I am honored to join you in this twin beams of light soaring to the heavens we solemnly recall a great challenge to our nation. We honor the memories of the fallen. And we pledge our unwavering commitment to defend the values of freedom and liberty that serve as guide posts for our democracy on behalf of the men and women of the Department of Defense. Thank you and May God bless America. Ladies and gentlemen, it's my honor to introduce you this time, our chairman and CEO Frank. I don't want. So thank you everybody for coming here tonight on this beautiful evening. It is beautiful right. I mean just take it just think of what just think of what so many men and women did almost 19 years ago. It was one of the saddest days in America, but it was one of the greatest and proudest days in America. so many people came together to try to save so many lives whether there was a ground zero all of the United States. so I just want to uh thank you and uh what you do for your brother. And keeping his memory alive is just just an incredible and I just I salute you because I know you'll love cuz I know what that love is and uh I'm just proud of what you're doing and to be here tonight and to shine that big beautiful light. So we always remember I have my nephew here Gregory with his beautiful wife and uh and children I have another 911 family member uh here um. A wheelchair family um who uh made the trip here to uh tonight so it it's not easy. uh to come here. I know that Shirley and and uh Joel uh to be out here and you you lost your dad. Surely you lost your husband 19 years ago. I thank you for any of the 911 family members that are here uh I um I pray for your family and make sure that we the way that we honor our family the best way to honor our family is to do good and to. Recognized that in America we live in this country because the men and women that come out of that building right across the street if it wasn't for the people that protect us every single day. So we lost 2977 great souls in 911, but we lost 7000 ever since because we went to war because of what happened on 911, We can't forget the sacrifice that is made every single day to give us our freedom. Our liberty we live in the greatest country in the world. why because we have people men and women are willing to die for you and me every single day let. First responders or men and women in uniform that protect us all our service members, so we live in the greatest country because of people like that. so when something happens, something bad happens, we gotta make sure that we carry the torch that we always remember and then we shared a light a big beautiful light on their lives that we never forget the sacrifice that was made that day 19 years ago. So thank you and God bless you all for being here today and of course, always God bless America. We already did the like we would have done it already. So that really concludes everything and thank you for coming and I know um that the press has a few questions. We'll we'll do any of the press that uh that has a question and uh once again, God bless everybody in the next few days as America, let's let's say a prayer for all those who lost.