Remembering the Victims of 9/11
On Sept. 11th, 2001, John Wenckus was headed home to California, on American Airlines Flight 11, after spending a week celebrating his Father's 70th birthday. But John didn't make it home that fateful day.
John was born and raised in Waltham, Massachusetts, graduating from Waltham High School in 1973. John lived at home while attending MIT, earning a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering.
Following graduation, John joined Hi-Shear Technologies, of Torrance, CA, where he was well regarded.
John left that position in 1997 to serve as vice president and general manager at Lockhart Industries in Paramount, Calif. After a brief retirement, John began a new career as a tax consultant, joining Philip Califano and Califano Financial Group in San Pedro as a partner. Philip Califano shared his memories of John, "He was bright, meticulous, thorough and he had a tremendous work ethic. He was THE guy you wanted handling your taxes…But the quality guy he was and the size of his heart dwarfed John’s excellence as a tax professional."
John was 46 years old when he died, not because of illness, not because of an accident, but because a hate filled Islamic Terrorist took over his airplane and flew it into the North Tower of the World Trade Center.
Today we remember the 2996 lives that were lost on 09/11/2001. We remember the innocent victims, like John, that were aboard those airplanes used to harm America. We remember the innocent victims in Towers and the Pentagon and we remember the heroic Firefighters and Policemen that died trying to save lives.
Today we remember the innocent, but we also should not forget those that perpetrated this tragedy. Because when we forget them, as many have, we are opening ourselves to another attack. We must be diligent to never let it happen again.
Five years later, America still stands. Because America is not it's vast and different lands, America is not skyscrapers and schools, America is it's people like John Wenckus, and America is it's ideals, like freedom and liberty. We Are America! And we remember John Wenckus.
God Bless America!
Mr Minority
(On a personal note: The selection of the victim assigned to each blogger was random. But I must point out that John Wenckus' career path was very similar to mine. Providence? Who can say).
