Patriot’s day in this country means something. It's a day of reflection. A day to recognize the great men and women who have come before us and made this country the great beacon of freedom and democracy it is today. For they were brave souls who demanded a free, safe and just society in which to live. And without fail every generation of Americans churns out new patriots who will carry that torch of liberty and determination into the future. We honor those people every third Monday in April.
In Boston, Patriots day also coincides with
another great American tradition. The running of the Boston Marathon, affectionately known as Marathon Monday, and on that Monday the 15th of April 2013 the masses turned out as
they always do along every foot of the 26.2 mile course to observe the great
athletes from around the world as they pound the pavement mile after grueling
mile feeding off the cheer and elation of the supportive crowd. At the finish
line friends and family excitedly awaited the arrival of their loved ones.
Little did they know that this would not be like every other Marathon Monday
they have come to know.
I was at work a few miles away when heard it.
Even over the rumble of the back hoe I was operating I knew instinctively what
it was, that unmistakable sound. It immediately brought me back to my time in
the war. I heard the first quickly followed by another.
At 2:48 p.m. as exhausted athletes crossed the finish line on Boylston St. to the jubilation of their friends and family, two brothers would attempt to change the memory of this day forever.
The heroism that would ensue in the immediate aftermath and coming days of the tragedy would add all new meaning to future Patriot's Days' for all Americans, especially in Boston and for those affected by this cowardly act of terrorism. As well as catapult this generations new Patriots to the forefront of every other Americans thoughts, prayers and appreciation.
On April 18th the Federal Bureau of Investigation took over the investigation and released
photographs and surveillance video of the two suspects. The suspects
were identified later that day as Chechen brothers Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev. Shortly after the FBI released the images, the suspects
allegedly killed an MIT police officer, carjacked and SUV, and initiated an
exchange of gunfire with the police in Watertown, Massachusetts. During the firefight, an MBTA police officer was injured but survived with
severe blood loss. Tamerlan Tsarnaev was shot by police and then run over by
his brother Dzhokhar fleeing in an SUV. Tamerlin would succumb to his injuries while his brother Dzhokhar although injured, would escape.
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Upon Dzhokhar Tsarnaev escaping a substantial police gauntlet all while hurling bombs out the window of a stolen SUV, his at-large status and authorities’ fears that he may possess additional explosives prompted an intense manhunt. SWAT teams and Humvees roll through residential streets with military helicopters hovering overhead and bomb squads ushered to several locations. Boston was effectively in lockdown. Transit service was suspended. Classes at Harvard, MIT, Boston University and other nearby colleges were canceled. Amtrak halts service into Boston. The Red Sox game and a concert at Symphony Hall were postponed and Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts directs residents to stay behind locked doors at all times. Shortly after the "shelter in place" advisory was rescinded, a Watertown resident discovered Dzhokhar Tsarnaev hiding in a boat in his back yard just outside of the police cordon and search area. He was arrested and taken to a hospital shortly thereafter.
During an initial interrogation in the hospital, it is alleged that Dzhokhar said Tamerlan was the mastermind. He said the brothers were motivated by extremist Islamist beliefs and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and that they were self-radicalized and unconnected to any outside terrorist groups. He said they had learned to build explosive devices from an online magazine of the al-Qaeda affiliate in Yemen. He said that he and his brother had decided after the Boston bombings to travel to New York City to bomb Times Square. Dzhokhar was charged on April 22, while still in the hospital, with use of a weapon of mass destruction and malicious destruction of property resulting in death. He has pleaded not guilty to more than 30 charges.
Stephen,
ReplyDeleteGreat synopsis of the events that unfolded that day. I like how you set up the scene, include some personal stories from eye witnesses, and describe the outcome and capture.
But you forgot to answer the other 2 sets of questions in the instructions:
2. What do you think we should learn from this attack (as a city/society)?
3. How do we best move on from this?
In these questions, you reflect upon the nature of terrorism, how a city can move on, how we can be more diligent, how we can increase surveillance, how we can cope without reducing our own freedoms, etc... whatever suggestions you can come up with.
These two questions are important, as you want to teach your readers how best to prevent these events, best handle them, and best move on.
Other than that, I applaud your effort and your writing skills. You obviously am passionate about this topic - it hits home.
I noticed in the first few paragraphs, you used a passive verb tense that needs to be cleaned up. You say, for example, "two brothers would attempt to change the memory..." You can drop the would, and just say "two brothers attempted". Go straight to a simple past tense. It's more direct and more accurate. It gets sticky we right about an event, but remember, it already happened, so stick to the past tense. I used to have trouble with this in college and had to make this change to my history papers all the time.
GR: 80