Mother of my wonderful and amazing angel of a son, James 💖 and Aunty to @MunchPudding
England, United Kingdom
Joined August 2019
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Lisa 😺😻 retweeted
She was 8 years old.
Her name was Zoe Falkenberg, and on the morning of September 11, 2001, she climbed aboard American Airlines Flight 77 with her mom, dad, and 3-year-old little sister, Dana.
To Zoe, this wasn’t a flight that would become part of American history. It was the beginning of an adventure.
Her family was going to Australia for two months while her mother, Leslie Whittington, completed a fellowship at Australian National University. Her father, Charles Falkenberg, had taken leave from work so all four of them could experience it together. They had talked about seeing kangaroos and koalas and exploring a place on the other side of the world. (ABC News)
Zoe sat between her dad and her little sister. Her mom was across the aisle.
She was tiny for her age, but one of the brightest kids in her class. She loved Girl Scouts, ballet, swimming, and performing. More than anything, she loved books. Harry Potter was a favorite. At home, reading was a family ritual. Her parents would curl up on the couch with Zoe and Dana every night, then after Dana went to bed, Zoe got to stay up for the longer stories. Sometimes Harry Potter. Sometimes Tolkien. (Naval History and Heritage Command)
And Zoe already had plans for when she came home.
She and her best friend Katie were going to have a Beanie Babies birthday party together. That detail gets me.
Because children don’t think about whether they’ll make it home from a family vacation. They think about stuffed animals and birthday parties and books they haven’t finished yet.
Just before the family boarded their flight, they mailed postcards to relatives from Dulles Airport. Those postcards began arriving after September 11.
Little messages from a family excited about the adventure ahead of them.
Messages that essentially said, “We love you.” Zoe never got Australia. She never got her Beanie Babies party. Dana never got to grow up beside her big sister. Their parents never got to watch either of their daughters become women.
At 9:37 a.m., American Airlines Flight 77 struck the Pentagon. Zoe, Dana, Leslie, and Charles died together. Dana, only 3, was the youngest person aboard the plane.
Twenty-five years later, I don’t want Zoe remembered simply as one of the passengers on Flight 77.
Her name was Zoe Falkenberg. She was 8.
She loved Harry Potter. She had a birthday party waiting for her when she got home.
And she should have had an entire lifetime after it.
Lisa 😺😻 retweeted
Joseph Pfeifer was the first NYC fire chief on scene at the World Trade Centers on 9/11.
On CNN two days ago, he made a point I'd never heard or read anyone make about 9/11:
The Towers had ~20,000 people in them when the planes hit.
'We lost 3,000 people at Ground Zero that day,' Pfeifer said.
'But we rescued something like 17,000 people before the Towers came down,' he said.
That's so amazing. Amid the confusion, the chaos, first responders and workers inside the World Trade Center got 85% of people to safety.
That's a fact worth knowing, too.
Lisa 😺😻 retweeted
Rest easy, K9 Boss💙
Connecticut State Police lost a true hero to cancer on Sept 10, 2026. In his career, Boss answered 295 calls, found 6 missing persons, and located 16 wanted persons.
We were proud to vest him in 2023.
We'll take the watch from here.
#k9hero #k9officer #vik9s
Lisa 😺😻 retweeted
Years have passed, but the courage of these dogs should never be forgotten. Today, we honor the search-and-rescue heroes of 9/11. 🤍
Lisa 😺😻 retweeted
I will dedicate the final hours of this day, 25 years after everything changed forever, to Port Authority Police K-9 Sirius, who perished when the North Tower collapsed.
His remains were recovered on 01/22/2002.
All work at Ground Zero was halted, and he was carried out draped in the American flag by an honor guard that included his handler, Police Officer David Lim.
May this hero, along with all the others, forever rest in peace and never be forgotten.
EOW 09/11/2001
Lisa 😺😻 retweeted
I remember exactly where I was on September 11th 2001 - I was in university at the time, and watched the second plane hitting the south tower live on TV. I couldn't believe what I was seeing.
Yesterday, alongside the US Ambassador Warren Stephens, Director General of MI5, Sir Ken McCallum, and the Met Police Deputy Commissioner, Matt Jukes, we paid tribute to the thousands murdered by Islamist terrorists, including 67 British people, at the US Embassy memorial service.
Twenty-five years on, their families still carry that loss. We all still mourn them. It was a terrible day for not just in the US, for the UK and the world. We will never forget them.
Lisa 😺😻 retweeted
Sharing a post 🙏🥹🐾🐕🦺
On September 11, 2001, dogs served in different ways across the World Trade Center disaster — searching rubble, detecting danger, and guiding people through smoke-filled stairwells to safety.
Apollo, an NYPD German Shepherd, searched the ruins of Ground Zero alongside rescue crews.
Bretagne, a young Golden Retriever with Texas Task Force 1, worked through dust, twisted steel, and devastation. Years later, she became widely remembered as the last known surviving 9/11 search-and-rescue dog.
Jake, a black Labrador who had once been abandoned and badly injured, grew up to become a certified search-and-rescue dog. After 9/11, he spent days working through the wreckage at Ground Zero.
Sirius, a Port Authority Police yellow Labrador trained to detect explosives, was inside the World Trade Center that morning. His handler, Officer David Lim, secured him before rushing to help others evacuate.
Lim survived.
Sirius did not.
He became known as the only police dog killed in the 9/11 attacks.
And then there were Roselle and Salty.
They weren’t searching the rubble.
They were guide dogs.
Roselle helped her blind handler, Michael Hingson, escape from the 78th floor of the North Tower.
Salty helped his blind handler, Omar Rivera, descend from the 71st floor.
Through darkness, noise, fear, crowded stairwells, and chaos, they kept moving.
Six dogs.
Six very different stories.
Search dogs. Police dogs. Guide dogs.
None of them knew the meaning of terrorism.
None understood why that morning had changed America forever.
They simply did what they had been trained to do — and stayed beside the people who depended on them.
More than two decades later, their names still deserve to be remembered.
Apollo. Bretagne. Jake. Sirius. Roselle. Salty.
They searched.
They guided.
They served.
Never forget September 11, 2001. 🇺🇸🐾
#September11 #911 #NeverForget #GroundZero #SearchAndRescue #K9 #GuideDogs #HeroDogs #Apollo #Bretagne #Jake #Sirius #Roselle #Salty
Lisa 😺😻 retweeted
The 'Man in the Red Bandana' finally honored for his sacrifice.
25 years after Welles Crowther gave his life saving others on 9/11, the 'Man in the Red Bandana' is awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Crowther was just 24 when he repeatedly went back into the South Tower, helping as many as 18 people escape. Survivors remembered one unmistakable detail about the stranger who helped save their lives: the red bandana covering his face.
Crowther never made it out, but the people he helped did.
Now his mother and sister accept the nation’s highest civilian honor on his behalf, cementing a legacy born from the extraordinary choice to keep going back for others.
Lisa 😺😻 retweeted
Forty voices. Forty lives. A story of courage that will never be forgotten.
Standing 93 feet tall at Flight 93 National Memorial, the Tower of Voices holds 40 wind chimes, each representing one of the passengers and crew members of United Airlines Flight 93.
When the wind moves across the Pennsylvania landscape, their voices continue to ring. We remember their courage. We remember their sacrifice. We remember the 40 lives lost 25 years ago.
ALT At Flight 93 National Memorial, the Tower of Voices rises on a grassy hill dotted with wildflowers under a partly cloudy blue sky.
Lisa 😺😻 retweeted
Today is #WorldSuicidePreventionDay
If today feels too heavy, please stay. You don’t have to carry everything by yourself.
Tell a hooman. Send the text. Make the call. Let someone sit beside you for a while.
You matter more than you know
Samaritans: Samaritans: 116 123
Lisa 😺😻 retweeted
25 years on from 9/11 we remember the nearly 3,000 people, 67 of them British, who were murdered by al-Qaeda, and those who gave their own lives to save others.
The hatred of free and open societies that drove those attacks hasn't gone away and neither has our resolve to stand against it.
Lisa 😺😻 retweeted
🕊 The missing Twin Towers returned to New York for a few minutes
A light show was held on the eve of the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
The drones first rose into the night sky in a spiral, then formed the outlines of the destroyed World Trade Center towers.
The installation used 2,977 drones — one for each person killed in the attacks.
Lisa 😺😻 retweeted
In the aftermath of 9/11, Steve Buscemi returned to his old fire station, where he had served as a firefighter in the early 1980s.
Donning his old uniform, he worked 12 hour shifts for days on end, searching for survivors in the rubble of the World Trade Center.
He did so without media attention, a quiet act of courage that later became a powerful symbol of solidarity.
Lisa 😺😻 retweeted
More than 300 dogs helped search for survivors on 9/11. In fact, the last person rescued at ground zero was found by a search and rescue dog.
The search was mentally and physically taxing on the dogs, who walked across huge piles of debris and smoldering rubble. As the days went by, dogs became sad when they were no longer finding people alive. So, to keep their spirits up, their handlers staged mock rescues. They would have people hide under debris for dogs to find. This boosted the dogs’ morale as they continued their work.
In addition to rescue dogs, therapy dogs were brought to the scene to provide comfort to emotionally drained and traumatized police officers and firefighters.
Dogs are the best thing in the world and we do not deserve them.
