Giving the Victims of 09/11 a Voice

One Man's Unique Vision to Never Forget


Xaver Wilhelmy created a unique glass organ pipe design and a plan to remember the victims of 09/11.

This is a Milestone Monday feature.

I first met Xaver Wilhelmy in 2003 and a few days after our introduction we were standing overlooking the massive hole at Ground Zero. I had been asked to illustrate his proposal for the memorial competition.

The vision that he unfolded that day was inspiring. He wanted to create a massive organ who's 3000 some pipes would give a voice to each person who was murdered in the attacks on the United States. Xaver is a master craftsman who has made organ pipes out of every material imaginable. The instrument he envisioned would have the usual metal and wood pipes... but in addition there would be the wonderful glass pipes! They would rise around the room to capture light coming in through the windows. I could give myself goose bumps imagining something like Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man ringing through that wonderful room.

Xaver actually created a portion of the work... a series of glass pipes depicting the American flag. He showed them at two conventions of the American Guild of Organists. Alas, his inspired piece was overlooked in the 5000 some entries in the memorial competition. Still, it begs one to reconsider the non-memorial memorials so in vogue right now. Rather than reduce the victims to some monolithic repeated design, why NOT celebrate the unique character and voice of each life that was destroyed that day.

Phil's Video [click to watch] reminded me of Xaver's vision. Seeing the faces of the NYPD members who died that day prompted me to think again about the voices that were silenced that day... Fathers, Husbands, Brothers, Sisters, Friends and Colleagues. May we do the right thing and never forget them.

Read Xaver's Vision [click to read] in his own words.
ht/Laney, who reminded me of this post.


Xaver Wilhelmy's beautiful glass organ pipes form an American flag.

Giving the Victims of 09/11 a Voice

One Man's Unique Vision to Never Forget


Xaver Wilhelmy created a unique glass organ pipe design and a plan to remember the victims of 09/11.

This is a new Milestone Monday feature.

I first met Xaver Wilhelmy in 2003 and a few days after our introduction we were standing overlooking the massive hole at Ground Zero. I had been asked to illustrate his proposal for the memorial competition.

The vision that he unfolded that day was inspiring. He wanted to create a massive organ who's 3000 some pipes would give a voice to each person who was murdered in the attacks on the United States. Xaver is a master craftsman who has made organ pipes out of every material imaginable. The instrument he envisioned would have the usual metal and wood pipes... but in addition there would be the wonderful glass pipes! They would rise around the room to capture light coming in through the windows. I could give myself goose bumps imagining something like Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man ringing through that wonderful room.

Xaver actually created a portion of the work... a series of glass pipes depicting the American flag. He showed them at two conventions of the American Guild of Organists. Alas, his inspired piece was overlooked in the 5000 some entries in the memorial competition. Still, it begs one to reconsider the non-memorial memorials so in vogue right now. Rather than reduce the victims to some monolithic repeated design, why NOT celebrate the unique character and voice of each life that was destroyed that day.

Phil's Video [click to watch] reminded me of Xaver's vision. Seeing the faces of the NYPD members who died that day prompted me to think again about the voices that were silenced that day... Fathers, Husbands, Brothers, Sisters, Friends and Colleagues. May we do the right thing and never forget them.

Read Xaver's Vision [click to read] in his own words.

Never Forget These Brave Souls

Video Portrait Tribute to the 23 NYPD Officers Killed


ht/Phil [click to read].

Who's the Bigot Again, Ms. Pelosi?

It Cant be Feisal Abdul Rauf, Can it?

Nat Hentoff [click to read] in Jewish World Review makes a clear and concise presentation of the facts surrounding the Ground Zero Mosque and its controversial imam. I guess Ms. Pelosi will be investigating him now.

This Photo Says It All

Protest of Planned Mosque at Ground Zero


How about some 'tolerance' from the Muslim world first?

SWAC Girl [click to read] and Phil [click to read] have more.

December 7th, September 11th

Never Never Forget...

Phil Reminds Us of the Day that will Live in Infamy {click to read].

Our parents could tell us EXACTLY what they were doing and where they were when they learned of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

On a bright September day I decided to get in a run before work. It was a beautiful blue-sky day. I looked up and thought it would be a day to be flying... It would certainly turn out to be not a good day for flying! When I got to the office the news of the plane hitting the first tower was out. I watched the television in horror as another plane struck and the towers fell. The Pentagon was hit and a plane augered in to a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

Just how big was this attack. Was the world we knew being brought down before our very eyes? All of us prayed.

In the days that followed the sky was eerily quiet. There was not a plane in the sky save for an occasional military craft. I remember sticking my lunch money into a firefighter's outstretched boot. We understood the danger then, as our parents did so long ago. Do we understand the danger today?

We Will Not Forget...

...We Will Always Remember

Here is a Tribute Everyone Should See [click to view] ht/Lynn

"For a brief period after 9/11 the NY Times suspended wielding its pen as a partisan left-wing dagger and did some excellent reporting and should be applauded for that. The “life sketches” done in the days and months after 9/11 offer a unique and inspiring look into what these towers really were: a great combination of individuals, in liberty, working and struggling and fulfilling their hearts’ desires. The lives of the victims are clearly described and collectively tell the much greater story of America." -- Looking at the Left

September 11 Remembered

Seven Years Ago Our World Was Changed Forever


Our Flag is flying today.

It was a beautiful September day. The skies were blue and I had watched a plane in the sky on my morning run, thinking it would be a lovely day to fly.

But it wasn't. All too soon the news of Muslim terrorists using hijacked aircraft as bombs flashed across the news. Smoke billowed from the tallest buildings in New York, the Pentagon and a field in Shanksville Pennsylvania. We came together and we prayed. We put our lunch money into fire fighters' outstretched boots and understood that the world was a very dangerous place.

Seven years later, we've "moved on" to other issues. Jihadists still have the same designs on our world as they had on that awful day in 2001. We've Got Our Work Cut Out for Us according to the Gates of Vienna. Why is it that we are more interested in 9/11 Conspiracy Theoories than historic facts about Jihad? Popular Mechanics Systematically Debunks Them Here but there are those who persist in promoting the notion that our government plotted the whole thing. Unlike the guys who kept saying the Apollo Program was a hoax [all filmed in a studio], these people are one more diversion from an honest assessment of our place as a people in the times we live in. I leave you with This Piece by John P. Avlon in City Journal. My prayers are with the families who still struggle with the losses of that terrible day.

Rebuild the Twin Towers

A Lot of Us Secretly Wish it Would Happen

This Article by Nicole Gelinas in City Journal expresses what a lot of us have felt or wished at some point in the discussion of what should happen at Ground Zero.


Herb Belton's proposal for rebuilding the World Trade Center.

For the record, I like Daniel Libeskind's original concept for the Freedom Tower as architecture but somehow it doesn't belong there. Minoru Yamasaki's distinctive towers had become an icon and rebuilding their profile sends a strong message to those who would attempt to destroy our way of life. This Article by Frank Gaffney gives even more reasons to desire such a statement.