Speaker 1: Hey, this is Buck Sexton and you're listening to the
Speaker 1: Tutor Dixon Podcast, part of the Clay Travers and Buck
Speaker 1: Sexton podcast Network. Welcome to the Tutor Dixon Podcast. I
Speaker 1: want to encourage all of us to remember and honor
Speaker 1: the sacrifices that have been made by so many to
Speaker 1: protect and preserve the United States. Today is a special day.
Speaker 1: We remember those we lost as a result of the
Speaker 1: attacks on our country on September eleventh, two thousand and one.
Speaker 1: That day, we lost two nine hundred and seventy seven Americans.
Speaker 1: We hear so many stories of heroism from that day,
Speaker 1: the man in the red bandana, the volunteer, the off
Speaker 1: duty firefighters who rushed to the scenes, and the neighbors
Speaker 1: and civilians who faced horror like we have never seen.
Speaker 1: Frank Siller has one of his own stories of heroism
Speaker 1: from that day. Frank is the founder, chairman, and CEO
Speaker 1: of Tunnel to Towers Foundation, which was starting in remembrance
Speaker 1: of his little brother, Stephen, a New York City Fire
Speaker 1: Department firefighter who gave his life on nine to eleven.
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Speaker 1: Now I want to welcome Frank Seller onto the podcast.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for joining us today on this
Speaker 1: day that, like I said before we got in on here,
Speaker 1: all of us remember this day who lived through it,
Speaker 1: All of us remember the devastation and watching. For those
Speaker 1: of us who were there in person watching it happen,
Speaker 1: and for those of us that were watching it on TV,
Speaker 1: will never forget. But for you it's different.
Speaker 2: You.
Speaker 1: I've never actually heard your story. I've seen you on
Speaker 1: TV a million times. I knew that you had that
Speaker 1: your brother, you had lost your brother, not heard that
Speaker 1: you were going golfing that morning, that that was your plan.
Speaker 2: Yes, So twenty two years ago today, my brother Stephen
Speaker 2: was just finished his night tour in squad Wan in Brooklyn,
Speaker 2: which is an elite firehouse. They trained for terrorism, and
Speaker 2: they trained to rescue other firefighters. And he just finished
Speaker 2: his store. He was driving on his way home. He's
Speaker 2: going to play golf with myself, my brother George, and
Speaker 2: my brother Russ. And he heard on the radio scan
Speaker 2: of what, you know, the tablets were hit. So, you know,
Speaker 2: what do these great heroes do. They turn around, they go.
Speaker 3: He went back to his firehouse, he got his gear.
Speaker 2: His fire company would already responded, you know, to the
Speaker 2: call to duty. And so he got his gear and
Speaker 2: drove to the mouth of the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel. If
Speaker 2: you listeners who don't know, that tunnel connects Brooklyn with
Speaker 2: downtown Manhattan. It's almost two miles long. It was closed
Speaker 2: for security reasons. You know, people already banding their cars
Speaker 2: in there, and they didn't weren't letting anyone go in
Speaker 2: towards the Manhattan obviously for obvious reasons. So he pulled
Speaker 2: over his truck, got out, put his sixty pounds of
Speaker 2: fire gear on his back, and ran through that tunnel
Speaker 2: up West Street to what we believe he ran into
Speaker 2: the South Tower because that's where his other firefighter buddies
Speaker 2: were recovered later on, and I'm sure he found out
Speaker 2: that he knew that his firefighter guys that he trained
Speaker 2: with every day were in the South Tower. So that's
Speaker 2: where you'd want to go and rescue people and be
Speaker 2: around the people you train with every day. And while
Speaker 2: going up those stairs and saving others, he gave up
Speaker 2: his life. And when we heard the story of what
Speaker 2: my brother did that day, I didn't you know, we
Speaker 2: didn't know, you know that for sure that he died
Speaker 2: on nine to eleven on twenty two years ago, you know,
Speaker 2: when the South Tower came down. Actually I felt inside
Speaker 2: that I did lose my brother. At that point, I
Speaker 2: remember turning to my mother in law and saying, hey, Nancy,
Speaker 2: I think I just lost my brother.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 2: Not knowing that he got there, I had no idea,
Speaker 2: you know that. You know. I kept on saying, well,
Speaker 2: maybe he couldn't get there, and maybe the towers came
Speaker 2: down before he got there. You know, I was praying,
Speaker 2: and you know, but to go back to that, you know,
Speaker 2: that day twenty two years ago, and I'll just for
Speaker 2: your listeners to understand what all nine love families are
Speaker 2: going through that day. So I found out that my
Speaker 2: brother was on a list of missing firefighters, and I
Speaker 2: was going to different firehouses, and I actually was preparing
Speaker 2: to go to ground zero myself with a company out
Speaker 2: of Staten allan Call Rescue five. You know, all these
Speaker 2: guys all my life, you know, Staten anam's a really
Speaker 2: blue collar you know, copspyfighters and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 3: And and so.
Speaker 2: But eventually I realized that they was so horrific. I
Speaker 2: had my siblings come over my house. So Stephen was
Speaker 2: the youngest of seven kids and and he was a
Speaker 2: father of five. So I start to have him come
Speaker 2: to my house. And later in the afternoon, a friend
Speaker 2: of my brother's, a firefighter, Richie Obermiah, who actually lived
Speaker 2: two doors away from my brother on Staten Island, called
Speaker 2: me up and said, hey, Frank, this is Richie. You
Speaker 2: know I'm down here at ground zero. I want you
Speaker 2: to know that Steven's on the list of missing firefighters.
Speaker 2: And I said, yeah, Richie, I knew that. Thank you
Speaker 2: for calling me. You know, I've been trying to call Stephen,
Speaker 2: you know, trying to contact him. And he goes, well,
Speaker 2: you know, he's on that list, and I want to
Speaker 2: let you know that it's really bad. Down here, and
Speaker 2: I said, yeah, Richie, I could see it's bad. I'm
Speaker 2: here with my family, My sisters are here, my brothers
Speaker 2: are here. You know, I could see how bad he's
Speaker 2: He goes no, Frank gets bad. I said, rich I'm
Speaker 2: looking at it. I see it's bad. He goes, no,
Speaker 2: you don't understand. Nobody's coming home. And I had to
Speaker 2: get off the phone and tell my sisters and my
Speaker 2: brothers that, and you know, it really brought us to
Speaker 2: our knees.
Speaker 3: My sister Gina was wailing.
Speaker 2: And we were devastated, and you know, you know, we
Speaker 2: didn't know one hundred percent he was gone at that point,
Speaker 2: but like I mentioned to you before, I felt he
Speaker 2: was gone, knowing that he had gotten there. And so
Speaker 2: it was a terrible day. But there was so many
Speaker 2: acts of heroism. I heard you talked about the man
Speaker 2: in the red bandana on your intro, and that Wells Crowther.
Speaker 3: You know, I know his mom, you know I spoke
Speaker 3: to her.
Speaker 2: If you go to our website, we have his story
Speaker 2: up there. Because there was so many acts of heroism
Speaker 2: that some are told, some on told that you know,
Speaker 2: the people will never know about it. And so today
Speaker 2: we're remembering all twenty nine hundred and seventy seven souls
Speaker 2: that were killed taken from us on that day.
Speaker 1: The people who were going in that day, like your
Speaker 1: brother Stephen, when they got that call, when they heard that.
Speaker 1: I mean, I remember I walked. I was working in
Speaker 1: Chicago at the time, and I took a train to
Speaker 1: a bus to my building and I get off and
Speaker 1: I go up to my building and they were just
Speaker 1: cops surrounding and they're like, you can't come in here.
Speaker 1: This is you know, We've secured it. You're leaving, go home.
Speaker 1: And I remember thinking, the heck, what are you talking about?
Speaker 1: You know, because you didn't have smartphones, you didn't know everything.
Speaker 1: It wasn't the detail wasn't right in front of you.
Speaker 1: And even getting on that bus and I'm turning on
Speaker 1: the radio and hearing the tower has fallen, my mind
Speaker 1: could could not comprehend what that meant. You know, you can't.
Speaker 1: You don't see it, you're hearing it. What did those
Speaker 1: people think that they were going to when your brother
Speaker 1: rushed off? What did they think compared to what they saw?
Speaker 2: I know exactly what they thought they were going to.
Speaker 2: And I know this because I've spoken to so many
Speaker 2: firefighters that survived that day, and I have accounts of
Speaker 2: them saying goodbye, now, I'll see you later when they
Speaker 2: were going in those buildings. And you have to know this,
Speaker 2: and America shall never forget this, that those firefighters knew
Speaker 2: there was a strong possibility that that was the last.
Speaker 3: Moments they were going to live.
Speaker 2: So did they know that, well, they my brother know
Speaker 2: that when he was running through the through the Brooklyn
Speaker 2: Battery tunnel with his fire year on his back, you
Speaker 2: know when he made that decision. No, did he know
Speaker 2: when he went up to West Street and then when
Speaker 2: he finally got to these.
Speaker 3: To the towers, Yes, no doubt about it.
Speaker 2: Because at that point people were already imagine, faced with
Speaker 2: this choice, the people above the fire line, and I
Speaker 2: have to say this because it's a reality check for everybody,
Speaker 2: the people above the fire line, which my heart breaks for,
Speaker 2: they were faced with two choices to burn or to jump,
Speaker 2: And it was so sad to watching it. And if
Speaker 2: you're there, these firefighters that were there on the ground
Speaker 2: were seeing this happening. At this point, they knew it
Speaker 2: was hell on earth at that moment, but they brought
Speaker 2: such grace and courage and heroism to that day. I
Speaker 2: look at that day as one of the greatest acts
Speaker 2: of love ever that all those firefighters and police offers
Speaker 2: is and everyday people like Wells Crowd, the men of
Speaker 2: the Red bandann Are, and so many other stories that
Speaker 2: they went in there to save people knowing there's a
Speaker 2: strong possibility they were going to give up their lives,
Speaker 2: and so many of them did, and so many of
Speaker 2: them did so. To answer your question, yeah, they knew
Speaker 2: what they get what they were getting into.
Speaker 1: Let's take a quick commercial break. We'll continue next on
Speaker 1: the Tutor Dixon Podcast. I think we see those pictures
Speaker 1: like the Falling Man, and it's interesting now because you know,
Speaker 1: my kids, they didn't live through this, and we were there,
Speaker 1: My sister was in New York City and we were
Speaker 1: watching all of this happen, and it's just so exactly
Speaker 1: what you said, So powerful to think that they faced
Speaker 1: a decision and they chose that because the other was
Speaker 1: so horrific, knowing that there was no way out. But
Speaker 1: I think we also see those pictures of like the
Speaker 1: woman who was covered in dust walking down downtown, just
Speaker 1: kind of aimlessly walking. And I remember my sister saying
Speaker 1: that that happened all day long. She just saw people
Speaker 1: walking from ground zero up to up North in Manhattan,
Speaker 1: just kind of aimlessly with their their briefcase covered in
Speaker 1: that dust. She was an an. She went back and
Speaker 1: she was doing pro bono work getting people signed in
Speaker 1: and getting information from people. And she said, I can
Speaker 1: remember at the time sitting down at ground zero and
Speaker 1: she said, from the time it took me to fill
Speaker 1: out one person's form, I would have to push all
Speaker 1: the dust off and move to the next form. Because
Speaker 1: even even weeks after the dust was falling, A lot
Speaker 1: of people have been sick since then and they've and
Speaker 1: you support those people as well, because a lot of
Speaker 1: these people have gone through, these people that were heroes
Speaker 1: and just people that lived down there. I mean, we
Speaker 1: really didn't know what the impact of this was. We've
Speaker 1: never experienced anything like this in the history of the
Speaker 1: country before. What is it like for those people now?
Speaker 1: And how do you support those people that have gotten
Speaker 1: this illness that is kind of this mysterious illness that
Speaker 1: they've many people have been sick in different ways from
Speaker 1: nine to eleven.
Speaker 2: Well, so once again for your listeners to know that
Speaker 2: tunnel to Twis Foundation, who I'm proud to say I'm
Speaker 2: the CEO chairman of.
Speaker 3: Takes care of every.
Speaker 2: Cop, every firefighter, every first responder in America who dies
Speaker 2: in the line of duty, has young children left behind.
Speaker 2: We're going to deliver them a mortgage free home. If
Speaker 2: they don't have a home, we're going to find them
Speaker 2: at home. And if they do have home, and most
Speaker 2: of them do, we're going to pay off their mortgage.
Speaker 2: We do that for gold Star widows, and we built
Speaker 2: especially adapted smart homes for our country's most catastrophically injured
Speaker 2: service members. But after nine to eleven, so many these
Speaker 2: great heroes that were on that freaking pile looking for
Speaker 2: their brothers and their loved ones or just everybody who
Speaker 2: was missing. Because over you know, there was two thousand
Speaker 2: and nine and seventy seven, as I mentioned.
Speaker 3: Before, people died that day.
Speaker 2: There was alose, so I think it's twelve hundred plus
Speaker 2: that were never recovered.
Speaker 3: They were there trying to find them.
Speaker 2: The police officers, firefighters, people came from all over the
Speaker 2: United States. Your sister was there, Your sister had that
Speaker 2: dust coming on them, and they were all told not
Speaker 2: to worry.
Speaker 3: Get pat it well.
Speaker 2: Let me tell you, there's over the two hundred, three
Speaker 2: hundred and three hundred and thirty eighth firefighter who died
Speaker 2: of nine to eleven illnesses just died the other day.
Speaker 2: There's been over three hundred police officers who have died
Speaker 2: of nine to eleven illnesses. And if they have a
Speaker 2: young family left behind, because we're a first responder to
Speaker 2: this foundation, we're going to take care of their families.
Speaker 2: We're going to pay off their mortgages. I have a
Speaker 2: friend of mine who I just visited just the other day,
Speaker 2: Ace Candlon Mike Candon. But he was Ace to me
Speaker 2: growing up. We've been friends for sixty four years, all right,
Speaker 2: since we've been since we've six years old, first grade.
Speaker 2: And his job he worked for Otis Elevator. His job
Speaker 2: was to go in after nine to eleven and clean
Speaker 2: out the soot inside the elevators. Chefs and now he
Speaker 2: wore all the apparatus and everything. But it doesn't matter,
Speaker 2: just like we know, masks doesn't matter, right, you know
Speaker 2: for other things.
Speaker 3: Like cook and he wore the you know, he's dying.
Speaker 2: He's he's moments away from dying of nine to eleven
Speaker 2: cancer because of what he Inhaled and what it's gone
Speaker 2: through his body. It just keeps on taking so many people.
Speaker 2: It's the terrorist attack that keeps on killing. I know
Speaker 2: that those who did this are smiling when that happens,
Speaker 2: and that's what we have to remember what we're up against.
Speaker 3: Always that they would love to do this again. They
Speaker 3: would love to instead of killing.
Speaker 2: They'd love as many zeros after that number that we
Speaker 2: give twenty nine hundred and seventy seven. If they put
Speaker 2: another zero on that, they would have been happier, and
Speaker 2: another zero they'd even been more happy. So this is
Speaker 2: what we're up against, and that's why we can't forget.
Speaker 2: We just can never forget that we are always going
Speaker 2: to be under assault and we have to always protect
Speaker 2: our country. One last point here on that since nine
Speaker 2: to eleven, over seven thousand men and women have died
Speaker 2: protecting us, so we didn't have to have another nine eleven.
Speaker 2: And so many bad things have happened obviously in Afghanistan,
Speaker 2: and withdrawal, all that kind of stuff sickens me, sickens me,
Speaker 2: and all those families had to see that they lost
Speaker 2: their loved ones. And this is how you're gonna come
Speaker 2: out of there. And and all the good.
Speaker 3: Work that we were doing there.
Speaker 2: But we got to remember those families that are left
Speaker 2: behind too, because they're part of all part of nine
Speaker 2: to eleven, because we wouldn't gone a war if it
Speaker 2: wasn't for nine to eleven. And that's why our foundation
Speaker 2: takes care of all these gold Saw families that have
Speaker 2: given their lives, the loved ones, given their lives for
Speaker 2: our country and have young families, and a lot of
Speaker 2: them don't have houses because they move from base to
Speaker 2: base or whatever you know, may be and in their military.
Speaker 2: And that's why we build them, you know, a gold
Speaker 2: a widow and their children a mortgage free home. And
Speaker 2: we're so proud of the work that would do. We're
Speaker 2: connected with our military because of what happened on nine
Speaker 2: to eleven. First respond the same mentality anyway, the courage,
Speaker 2: the heroism is incredible.
Speaker 1: You have so much support. You say, I mean, you're
Speaker 1: passionate about this stuff, and you're passionate about the mistakes
Speaker 1: that were made in Afghanistan. You've come out and you've
Speaker 1: you've been very open about how you feel about this stuff.
Speaker 1: After nine to eleven, there was like this great uniting
Speaker 1: in the country like we've really not seen in decades.
Speaker 1: The country came together. There were people that were just
Speaker 1: pro America. Whatever it is, We're going to support America.
Speaker 1: And I think that when when it comes to Tunnel
Speaker 1: to Towers, you still see that you've phraised over five
Speaker 1: hundred million to support heroes and their families. And that
Speaker 1: isn't coming from just one side that comes fro. I mean,
Speaker 1: I've seen you with celebrities, I've seen you with all
Speaker 1: kinds of people from different backgrounds who are just like, look,
Speaker 1: this is what we do. We support our heroes. How
Speaker 1: do you keep that going? How in this world that
Speaker 1: seems so divided right now? How do you keep that going?
Speaker 1: I love it, but I just what is that magic
Speaker 1: that you can keep that going?
Speaker 2: Well, you know, it's great that you mentioned that because
Speaker 2: I got to tell you, I am around great Americans
Speaker 2: all the time. I am so blessed. It's incredible.
Speaker 3: And they come to us.
Speaker 2: You mentioned some of the celebrities you know, like Wohlberg,
Speaker 2: Cole House.
Speaker 3: Rob Load and It's Quay.
Speaker 2: You know, it's incredible. They come to us because they
Speaker 2: want to help and they believe in our mission. And
Speaker 2: you know, whether they believe in our mission. It's very simple.
Speaker 2: Who couldn't believe and take care of these great families
Speaker 2: are left behind? I think almost every American would believe
Speaker 2: in that. I mean there's some crazies out there that
Speaker 2: you know that I think America is terrible, you know,
Speaker 2: shame on that. I mean, meanwhile, they live, they have
Speaker 2: no idea, they live in the they take advantage of
Speaker 2: everything that these our freedoms are given to us because
Speaker 2: of these men and women who put it all on
Speaker 2: the life for us every single day. But that's that's
Speaker 2: the beauty of America. But yes, I'm around it all
Speaker 2: the time.
Speaker 3: And you know, so people do what they can do.
Speaker 3: We ask everybody to do eleven dollars a month.
Speaker 2: I mean, most people can do that and they know
Speaker 2: that ninety five point one percent of every dollar that
Speaker 2: they donate those to our you know, to our programs.
Speaker 1: I think that's important because I think most people don't
Speaker 1: know that sometimes you can give money and that money
Speaker 1: you're just giving a small portion of that money, but
Speaker 1: you're talking about ninety five cents on every dollar is
Speaker 1: actually going to these families, going to the mission.
Speaker 3: Right, It's not going in my pocket. That's for sure,
Speaker 3: I don't get paid. I'm proud of that. I'm a volunteer.
Speaker 2: I have tens and tens of thousands of volunteers all
Speaker 2: across America.
Speaker 3: We have I think one hundred golf outings put on
Speaker 3: for us this year.
Speaker 2: David Wells, he's a pitcher, was a pitcher for the Yankees,
Speaker 2: and while he joined a baseball player who's almost like
Speaker 2: a Hall of Fame play for nineteen years. These guys
Speaker 2: are putting on these celebrity golf outings and different golf
Speaker 2: outings for us and raising so much money. But we
Speaker 2: have over one hundred golf oundings. We have over nearly
Speaker 2: one hundred runs and climbs all over the United States,
Speaker 2: and people can emulate what my brother did that day
Speaker 2: and what so many other heroes did that day. But
Speaker 2: we have three thousand events, three thousand events. The people
Speaker 2: at dinner or you know, some kind of a small fundraise.
Speaker 2: I love the little kids that come. I can't tell
Speaker 2: you how many times I see a ten year old
Speaker 2: kid or a fifteen year old kid or whatever that
Speaker 2: did a fundraise and gives us a check for six
Speaker 2: hundred dollars or eleven hundred dollars It means so much
Speaker 2: to me and one of the reasons why I'm so
Speaker 2: proud that we have the nine to Eleven Institute.
Speaker 3: On our website.
Speaker 2: You go to T two T and just you'll see
Speaker 2: we have we have kids for classes for K through
Speaker 2: twelve that a curriculum that you could just press a
Speaker 2: button and prints out what you can teach your class.
Speaker 2: We have teachers that downloaded every single day.
Speaker 1: Let's take a quick commercial break. We'll continue next on
Speaker 1: the Tutor Dixon Podcast. This year, my daughter had her
Speaker 1: eighth grade field trip to Washington, d C. We went
Speaker 1: and saw the nine to eleven Memorial there at the Pentagon.
Speaker 1: It was fascinating to see these seventh and eighth graders
Speaker 1: who did not live through this were really curious about it.
Speaker 1: They were looking at all the names. They were talking about,
Speaker 1: how did how did the plane come in? We went
Speaker 1: from there a few months later or too. I took
Speaker 1: her to New York City and we went down to
Speaker 1: ground zero and she's she looked at me and she said, Mom,
Speaker 1: now I saw what happened in DC, and I've seen
Speaker 1: what happened here, but it's it's still really hard to understand.
Speaker 1: You have this mobile exhibit. How does that work? How
Speaker 1: do you how do you talk to young kids about this,
Speaker 1: because I just think it's the never forget message, you know,
Speaker 1: we will never forget. But how do we educate so
Speaker 1: that they know?
Speaker 3: It's not easy? But it's parents like you that make
Speaker 3: it happen. So that's beautiful that you did both both
Speaker 3: those things go down to the Pentagon and then of
Speaker 3: course the ground zero.
Speaker 2: And you should know, for the twentieth anniversary two years
Speaker 2: ago today I finished my walk to honor my brother.
Speaker 2: I walked from the Pentagon to Shanksville where Flate ninety
Speaker 2: three went down to ground zero, fifteen miles a day
Speaker 2: for six weeks, five hundred and fifty two miles. And
Speaker 2: I came into ground zero on this day two years
Speaker 2: ago and walked to ground zero. And it's all because
Speaker 2: at first I went to honor my brother, you know,
Speaker 2: and I didn't know how to do it in a
Speaker 2: proper way, and I figured that would be something special,
Speaker 2: and it was very spiritual for me.
Speaker 3: I can't even today you how spiritual it was.
Speaker 2: Walking every day and I had hundreds and sometimes thousands
Speaker 2: of people walk with me, you know, at different at
Speaker 2: different times, and different days.
Speaker 3: It was so beautiful.
Speaker 2: I cannot even I just I tell you, it wasn't
Speaker 2: even hard.
Speaker 3: It wasn't hard.
Speaker 2: I trained the don't get me wrong, but I'm pretty all.
Speaker 2: Im seventy years old, but I trained, and I think
Speaker 2: it made it easier. But I think the real reason
Speaker 2: why it was easy because I I tell you, my
Speaker 2: brother was with me, the Holy Spirit was with me,
Speaker 2: and I just felt like I was I can't explain
Speaker 2: to you going up a mountain.
Speaker 3: I climbed up a mountain one day with.
Speaker 2: A double amputee and he had his shorty prosthetics on
Speaker 2: and three hours straight upper mountain, three hours straight and
Speaker 2: he didn't complain. So I'm sure as heck was never
Speaker 2: going to complain, you know. And I saw him do that,
Speaker 2: and you know, I'm sweating, and you know, of course
Speaker 2: he was sweating too. But because we did it, I
Speaker 2: did it in the middle of the summer, but it
Speaker 2: was it was glorious. But yes, we have to make
Speaker 2: sure we never forget. And that's why we have the
Speaker 2: nine to eleven Institute where you could download these you know,
Speaker 2: the curriculums and for the age appropriate. And that's why
Speaker 2: we have a mobile exhibit that goes all over the
Speaker 2: United States. It's on tractor trail. It's ninety three foot
Speaker 2: tractor trail and opens up to eleven hundred square foot
Speaker 2: museum with nine to eleven artifacts. And who's manning that
Speaker 2: My nine to eleven buddy, my firefighter buddies who lived
Speaker 2: that day. We have over two hundred a speakers bureau
Speaker 2: if somebody wanted somebody to come to speak at an event,
Speaker 2: because I love going to them, but I can't go
Speaker 2: to a thousand events, and of course of a year
Speaker 2: of five thousand events, so we have a speakers bureau.
Speaker 2: We have hundreds and hundreds of people who lived through
Speaker 2: that day of nine to eleven, the will to go
Speaker 2: anywhere and speak about it.
Speaker 3: It's you can't forget what happened.
Speaker 2: It's our first responsibility at TOMS, the Tallis Foundation, is
Speaker 2: to never forget an honor the sacrifice.
Speaker 1: And brought you brought something up about stair climbs. These
Speaker 1: folks that there's these events and I've been to one
Speaker 1: of these events where you climb the number of stairs
Speaker 1: that those firefighters climb that day. And you go to
Speaker 1: these events and their aspiermen there in full gear doing
Speaker 1: this in honor of their brothers who went out that
Speaker 1: day and did this and lost their lives. I think
Speaker 1: it's so valuable to go do this yourself and to
Speaker 1: I mean, like you said, the walk was so spiritual
Speaker 1: for you to go do this, and you'll find one
Speaker 1: in your town. I'm sure they're all over. I mean,
Speaker 1: people are doing this to honor these folks, but honestly,
Speaker 1: it's to understand it's more than just to honor. It's
Speaker 1: to live it and feel it and know what it
Speaker 1: was like. And you're doing it under no pressure. They're
Speaker 1: doing it as this building is falling crumbling around them. Yes,
Speaker 1: I mean you think about that. You see these firefighters,
Speaker 1: they're silent, they're not saying anything. They're just in the
Speaker 1: zone of I'm going to honor these guys. It's pretty amazing.
Speaker 2: It's emotional if you're there, it's emotional. You do it
Speaker 2: with them, it's incredible. You know, we have our marquee
Speaker 2: event every year is a Tunnel to Towers run, which
Speaker 2: is a couple weeks away. It's the last Sunday in September,
Speaker 2: September twenty fourth, and.
Speaker 3: You know, we retrace what my brother did. We go
Speaker 3: run through the.
Speaker 2: Tunnel and we have thousands of fire fighters will come
Speaker 2: from all over the country. Matter of fact, we have
Speaker 2: thirty countries that are represented and we have one hundred
Speaker 2: and fifty London fire fighters that come.
Speaker 3: Every every year.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but my point is is that we all we
Speaker 2: bring all these people again once again, make sure we
Speaker 2: out of the sacrifice and never forget. But you run
Speaker 2: through the tunnel with these We have twenty five hundred
Speaker 2: West Point Cadets that running cadence. They chant for the tunnel.
Speaker 3: If you're in that tunnel, it's just it's just it.
Speaker 2: It is the most patriotic event that you could be
Speaker 2: in America, period, bar none. And it was voted that
Speaker 2: some magazine voted it once, you know, a while ago,
Speaker 2: but it's true. And then you come out of that tunnel.
Speaker 3: We have the pictures of.
Speaker 2: All every firefighter and every police officer that died that
Speaker 2: they held by other five fighters and cops.
Speaker 1: Oh wow, but.
Speaker 2: Their face shoulder to shoulder. You put all them, you know,
Speaker 2: three hundred and forty three firefighters together.
Speaker 3: We're holding that boundary. You'll see how long that line is.
Speaker 2: And then the police officers and port authority police officers
Speaker 2: and rescue workers. And then we have the pictures of
Speaker 2: all the seven thousand plus men and women who died
Speaker 2: on the Global War on Terra. They're holding the pictures
Speaker 2: by ROTC and other military members. It's almost a mile
Speaker 2: long of all these great people that have paid such
Speaker 2: a sacrifice for you and for me, and I challenge
Speaker 2: anybody to come do it one year.
Speaker 3: Come do it one year.
Speaker 2: It is the most uplifting emotional And then we celebrate
Speaker 2: their lives with a big, a big celebration on the
Speaker 2: block right facing ground zero. We cook have them why
Speaker 2: Firefighter Buddi's cooked for thirty or forty thousand people.
Speaker 3: We're cooking for it.
Speaker 2: I call it the miracles and the loaves and fishes,
Speaker 2: because these guys make sure that.
Speaker 3: They feed, they feed everybody.
Speaker 2: And we have like this year, we have a lady
Speaker 2: at the bellum, lady a uh uh singing for us,
Speaker 2: Lesia had Derek Spanley. We have we have a great
Speaker 2: celebration on the block because these guys are the most
Speaker 2: women were of the most outrageous people ever, and they
Speaker 2: wouldn't want us to stay sad, isn't it so?
Speaker 1: I mean, think about that though you take the worst
Speaker 1: terror attack on this nation ever. Isn't it so American
Speaker 1: that we would come out and we would say, look,
Speaker 1: you are not going to hold us down. We were
Speaker 1: always every year, we're going to come together and we're
Speaker 1: going to say we are stronger than this, We're stronger
Speaker 1: than terror.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Well yeah, look, goodness always defeeds evil. Read in the Bible,
Speaker 2: and but it is true and and uh and that's
Speaker 2: what we do here. And that's why our whole thing
Speaker 2: about Total to Tallis foundation is is the Saint Francis
Speaker 2: of ASSISSI. My my parents are very religious and they were.
Speaker 2: They died when my brother was real young. He was
Speaker 2: eight and a half years old when my dad died,
Speaker 2: and a year later my mom died.
Speaker 3: So we raised my.
Speaker 2: Youngest brother, Stephen, his older siblings.
Speaker 3: And I said, he's the youngest of seven, but we
Speaker 3: were a lot old. I was closest in age.
Speaker 2: I was fourteen years older than Stephen. My brother Russ
Speaker 2: got rest his soul passed recently, was twenty five years
Speaker 2: older than him. So we were able to take that
Speaker 2: orphan baby kid and raise him. But say, my parents
Speaker 2: were Franciscans and they gave us great faith and teach
Speaker 2: them to live a simple life. Although this foundation is
Speaker 2: not so simple anymore. But say Francis and ASSISSI said this,
Speaker 2: brothers and sisters, while we have time, let us do
Speaker 2: good while we're here. Let us do good because we're
Speaker 2: running out of time every single day. So while you
Speaker 2: have time, don't postpone it.
Speaker 3: Do good.
Speaker 2: And we remember everybody. We celebrate their lives. But the
Speaker 2: good that we're doing as a foundation to take care
Speaker 2: of these families that, like I said before, are willing
Speaker 2: to risk their lives for you and me and all
Speaker 2: to often do. Come on, as Americans, come on, let's
Speaker 2: all get together, you say.
Speaker 3: How do we keep this going?
Speaker 2: I have no doubt the tone to twas foundation will
Speaker 2: be around forever. The need will always be there. They'll
Speaker 2: always be a firefighter or a police officer given their life.
Speaker 2: There always will be sad to say, there will always
Speaker 2: be conflicts around the world where America will stand up
Speaker 2: and take care of the world.
Speaker 3: Like we always like we always have.
Speaker 2: So we'll always have guys coming back losing their lens
Speaker 2: and they'll need smart homes. All these things that we're
Speaker 2: doing will always be there. It need, So the foundation,
Speaker 2: I have no doubt. I know it for one hundred percent.
Speaker 3: Will be here forever because the need will always be there.
Speaker 2: But let's all just come together and make this promise
Speaker 2: that we'll take care of these families that are left behind.
Speaker 1: And I think that's why.
Speaker 3: They should do.
Speaker 1: It's time for us all to do good. And Frank Zeller,
Speaker 1: you've really done good. And your brother Stephen, what an
Speaker 1: amazing guy. I mean, his story is the reason that
Speaker 1: we want to support people who take care of us.
Speaker 1: His story is the story of everybody who has an
Speaker 1: emergency and needs that person, and we all need Stephen
Speaker 1: running through that tower for us, and tunnel to towers
Speaker 1: allows us to continue to support those families that have
Speaker 1: people running through tunnels to save us. I appreciate you.
Speaker 1: I'm so grateful for you today, and I just ask
Speaker 1: all of our listeners today take some time to think
Speaker 1: about those heroes today. Thank a veteran, Thank the people
Speaker 1: that help you every day. Go to t towot dot
Speaker 1: org and put that money in that monthly gift to
Speaker 1: make sure that we can continue to thank our heroes.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Frank Zeller, thank you and Gobbless, and thank
Speaker 1: you all for joining me. Today, on this day that
Speaker 1: we will never forget. On the Tutor Dixon Podcast, thank
Speaker 1: you for this episode and others. Go to Tutor diisonpodcast
Speaker 1: dot com. You can subscribe right there, or check us
Speaker 1: out on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you
Speaker 1: get your podcasts. And of course I want you to
Speaker 1: tell everybody you can today to remember our heroes and
Speaker 1: never forget nine to eleven. Have a blessed day,