Transcript: Mayor de Blasio and Commissioner Bratton Deliver Remarks at the NYPD Emerald Society Pipes & Drums Memorial Procession

September 9, 2016

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Thank you. Good afternoon. I want to thank everyone for being here. I want to thank the Emerald Society Pipes & Drums for their service to the NYPD and to New York City. Thank you to all of the officers from around the country who have joined us – all of our military officers who have joined us. A special thank you to our Canadian neighbors – your presence means a lot to us. And to Commissioner Bratton, Chief O’Neill, and all the leaders assembled here – thank you for all you do.

September 11th, 2001 touched us all, every single one of us – deeply. We should never forget it was not only a tragedy for our city and our nation, it was an especially painful day for law enforcement – the deadliest day in the history of United States law enforcement. The NYPD Memorial records the names of 23 brave officers who lost their lives that day. That also includes the names of 99 others who perished from their service in the rescue and recovery. And we know – and we say this with very hearts – that we will soon add more. A day when so many suffered and so many felt the impact of that attack, but the NYPD paid an especially high price.

If you go back, none of us will ever forget the pain of that time, the confusion, the sense of horror that enveloped us – kept coming in waves when we tried to make sense of the unthinkable. And those waves could be felt for years and years after. But there are ways to take solace even after so much pain, and let’s take solace from the names on this Memorial Wall. At one of the worst moments we have ever experienced, they responded with the best humanity has to offer. Just when we saw the worst that human beings could do, we also saw the very best of the human spirit from our men and women in uniform. Speaking of that day, His Eminence Cardinal Dolan said a few years ago – “On that day, when the demons of our nature could have conquered, the angels of our nature triumphed.” That’s what we always have to keep in mind, and that’s what has to sustain us.

So on behalf of 8.5 million New Yorkers, I want to offer my deepest thanks and sincere condolences to the fallen, to their families, and to the greatest police department on this Earth.

Thank you and God bless you all.

[Applause]

Lieutenant Tony Giorgio: And thank you, Mr. Mayor. It’s indeed my privilege and pride to introduce the Police Commissioner of the City of New York, the Honorable William J. Bratton.

[Applause]

Police Commissioner William Bratton: Mr. Mayor, members of the dais, all who are gathered here today to celebrate and commemorate.

As I watched the bands march by from all those different police departments from around the country and from our neighbors from the North, Canada, I was reminded of the day in the weeks and months that followed when similarly, from all over the country and Canada, they came – police departments, fire departments, emergency service workers, and citizens – they came to New York to help, to provide solace. And that continues 15 years later. So to all of you from those many departments that are represented here – on behalf of the NYPD, we thank you. A special – thank you.

[Applause]

A special acknowledgment also of our brothers and sisters in the Port Authority Police Department who on the fateful day and since that fateful day have lost so many of their members also. We stand shoulder to shoulder with you.

[Applause]

To the representatives of our U.S. Armed Forces, so wonderfully represented by the Marine Corps Band, we thank you for your continuing service for the war that now stretches into the 15th year and the sacrifices that you and so many others have made.

[Applause]

There is something special about those who serve and risk their lives – firefighters monitor flames – soldiers, cops ride to the sound of the guns, as the saying goes. While they do not court danger, they do not shy away from it either. We saw that 15 years ago over, and over, and over again. We saw that when firefighters and police ran into the danger, when they ran into those two towers. We saw that when too many never came out. There’s something different about people who think about or remember that awful day and don’t say thank God I wasn’t there, but instead say I wish I could have been there because I think I could have helped. To you, police and first responders, who are here today, I know that many of you feel that – that even though you weren’t there that day, you wish that you might have been because that’s what we do.

To you family members who are here whose loss is rubbed raw at this time each year, you must know your loved ones felt that. It’s not a need for adventure, or excitement, or danger. It’s not recklessness. It’s the desire to help, the desire to serve. It’s the belief that if we don’t step up to make things better, then who will? No officer opens his or her locker saying – today will be the day. I venture to say that no officer ran toward those towers saying I know I won’t make it. But they knew it was possible, just as they know that every time they go to that locker and strap on that sand belt – sand brown belt – they do it anyway because it’s what they do.

Cops are optimists, even though they wrap themselves [inaudible] in cynicism from time to time. We are optimists because we have faith in what’s possible – that it’s possible to do good. That it’s possible to change the world. That 20-some odd years ago, they felt it was possible to change this city from one of the most dangerous in America to one of the safest in the world. That it is possible to keep people safe. In the end, it’s why we do what we do.

We look at the world as it is and seek to make it safer, to make it fairer, to fight fear. We remember those who give their lives – the 23 who died that day, the five times as many who have died since, and those who are still dying. As we remember them, we must remember the thing that sent them into the smoke, that caused them to work the pile for many weeks and months after. We must remember the optimism and the hope for a better, safer world. We must remember their dreams – a world where fear is put in its proper place. Because fear is not something that should be disabling, nor something that should make us overreact – it is a thing that hones us, that actually makes us safer, but it is never stronger than hope.

The men and women who willingly went into those towers who we remember and mourn, and celebrate today were the living embodiment of that. They dedicated their lives to an ideal, the same ideals to which we have dedicated this memorial. It’s the ideal that the police prevent crime and disorder, that they fight fear, that they serve the people – all the people, and that they keep people safe – all the people. Those are ideals worthy of sacrifice, even supreme sacrifice. And because it’s worth dying for them, it is eminently, eminently worth living for them. We remember the lost, we honor them, and we continue to fulfill the promise that we will never forget. Guardians of the Gates of the City of Life, they stand now as Guardians at the Gates of Heaven.

In closing, I’d like to read a brief passage from a favorite letter that I’m aware of – a letter that was written at the beginning of the Civil War, the night of the Battle of the First Bull Run. Written by a Union soldier, it has come to be known as a [inaudible]. And [inaudible] several paragraphs from that are very appropriate on this particular day. And I address these comments from that letter – a letter to his dear wife, Sarah – to the families who are here today. From the heart, he wrote this letter to his wife going into battle the next day, not knowing if he would live through the day, and he did not.

And these are his words: My dearest Sarah, forgive my many faults, and the many pains I have caused you. How thoughtless, how foolish I have oftentimes been! How gladly would I wash out with my tears, every little spot upon your happiness, and struggle with all the misfortunes of this world, to shield you and my children from harm. But I cannot, I must watch you from the spirit land and hover near you, while you buffet the storms with your precious little freight, and wait with sad patience till we meet to part no more. But, O Sarah, if the dead can come back to this earth, and flit unseen around those they loved, I shall always be near you in the garish day, and the darkest nights, amidst your happiest scenes and gloomiest hours always, always, and, if there be a soft breeze upon your cheek – and as the soft breeze comes in off the Hudson –  it shall be my breath; or the cool air fans your throbbing temples, it shall be my spirit passing by. Sarah, do not mourn me dear; think I am gone, and wait for me, for we shall meet again.

[Applause]