Six years ago today, as the world watched in horror, terrorists struck and changed our lives forever. Dastardly attacks, unprovoked and unexpected, brought the world to a stop. At the World Trade Center, at the Pentagon, and in the fields outside Shanksville, Pennsylvania, the lives of nearly 3,000 men, women and children were taken from us. Earlier today, at AFSCME's headquarters in Washington, D.C., we paused on this sixth anniversary to remember those we lost on that fateful morning. We paused to say a silent prayer for those who left us too soon, brothers and sisters whose memory will always be with us.
Within moments of the attacks, amid the smoke and rubble, thousands began the tough and painful work of searching through the debris, staffing crisis lines, providing food and shelter for survivors, and help and comfort for those who had lost loved ones. Firefighters, EMTs, paramedics, 911 operators, transit workers, nurses, hospital and health care workers, city engineers and air traffic controllers sprang into action on September 11, and in the days and months that followed. Many were AFSCME members. They did what AFSCME members always do. They are always there when tragedy strikes or disaster threatens. They make America happen. We will always be proud of them.
Father Mychal F. Judge, a New York Fire Department chaplain and member of AFSCME Local 299 (District Council 37), was among the first on the scene in New York City. He died at the World Trade Center administering last rites to a mortally wounded firefighter. Paramedics Carlos Lillo and Ricardo Quinn, both DC 37 members, braved the horrors in Lower Manhattan to support rescue efforts. They too gave their lives, as did Chet Louie, an AFSCME member who worked a second job at the World Trade Center, and five members of the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA)/AFSCME Local 1000 -- Yvette Anderson, Florence Cohen, Harry Goody, Marian Hrycak and Dorothy Temple -- who worked for the state Department of Taxation and Finance in Tower 1.
In the years since 9/11, we have learned that those who died on that day were not the only ones who would be taken from us as result of the attacks. We remember workers such as paramedic Deborah Reeve, a member of DC 37 who searched for survivors alongside hundreds of fellow AFSCME members during the recovery operations in New York. After waging a two-year battle with mesothelioma, which develops after exposure to asbestos, Paramedic Reeve passed away on March 15, 2006; she was 41 years old.
Tragically, we now know that thousands of other rescue and recovery workers at the World Trade Center have suffered serious medical problems, including lung infections, respiratory problems and cancer, as a result of the air they breathed while working at and around Ground Zero.
On this sixth anniversary of 9/11, we are reminded of all we owe to those who place their lives on the line in the service of our county and our communities. We think of Father Judge and Paramedic Reeve and all those who died because of their work on that fateful day and in the days and years that have followed. We have lost too many brave and valiant souls -- brothers and sisters who gave their lives in service to others. Our hearts go out to their families, to their colleagues, to their friends. We know they are missed, today and always.