Remembrance of 04-15-2013
Remembrance of the Boston Marathon Bombing Tragedy
11th Anniversary of the Boston Marathon Bombing Tragedy
April 15, 2013 ~ April 15, 2024
City of Boston, City of Cambridge and Town of Watertown
Moment of Silence: Victims, Families and First Responders
The Jimmy Hui Foundation and The Happy Acres Foundation office will join with Mayor Thomas P. Koch and the City of Quincy, Mayor Michelle Wu and the City of Boston, Governor Maura Healey and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Mayor Erin V. Joyce and the Town of Braintree, Mayor Robert L. Hedlund and the Town of Weymouth and Town Administrator Robert G. Hiss and the Town of Milton together to take a moment of silence at 2:49 p.m. in the order to honor of the victims, families and the first responders were affected on the Boston Marathon bombing from four years ago on that day of April 15, 2013 with two explosions on Boylston Street in the City of Boston and following the manhunt events began on April 18, 2013 and April 19, 2013 with the carjacking, high speed pursuit and manhunt in the City of Cambridge and Town of Watertown.
The North Quincy Nights Strategic Response Unit will join with Quincy Fire Department, Quincy Police Department, Braintree Fire Department, Braintree Police Department, Brewster Ambulance, Weymouth Fire Department, Weymouth Police Department, Milton Police Department, Milton Fire Department, Fallon Ambulance, Boston Emergency Medical Services, Boston Fire Department, Boston Police Department, MBTA Transit Police Department, Massachusetts State Police Department, Norfolk County Sheriff Department and Suffolk County Sheriff Department will take their pause on the roll call and police scanner for a moment of silence at 2:49 p.m. and continue to resume their regular schedule as usual all across the community throughout the day.
President Barack Obama (2009-2017): Interfaith Speech on April 18, 2013
Scripture tells us to “run with endurance the race that is set before us.” Run with endurance the race that is set before us. On Monday morning, the sun rose over Boston. The sunlight glistened off the Statehouse dome. In the Common and the Public Garden, spring was in bloom.
On this Patriot’s Day, like so many before, fans jumped onto the T to see the Sox at Fenway. In Hopkinton, runners laced up their shoes and set out on a 26.2-mile test of dedication and grit and the human spirit. And across this city, hundreds of thousands of Bostonians lined the streets -- to hand the runners cups of water and to cheer them on. It was a beautiful day to be in Boston -- a day that explains why a poet once wrote that this town is not just a capital, not just a place. Boston, he said, “is the perfect state of grace.” And then, in an instant, the day’s beauty was shattered. A celebration became a tragedy. And so we come together to pray, and mourn, and measure our loss. But we also come together today to reclaim that state of grace -- to reaffirm that the spirit of this city is undaunted, and the spirit of this country shall remain undimmed.
I’m here today on behalf of the American people with a simple message: Every one of us has been touched by this attack on your beloved city. Every one of us stands with you.
And every third Monday in April, you welcome people from all around the world to the Hub for friendship and fellowship and healthy competition -- a gathering of men and women of every race and every religion, every shape and every size; a multitude represented by all those flags that flew over the finish line. So whether folks come here to Boston for just a day, or they stay here for years, they leave with a piece of this town tucked firmly into their hearts.
So Boston is your hometown, but we claim it a little bit, too. I know this because there’s a piece of Boston in me. You welcomed me as a young law student across the river; welcomed Michelle, too. You welcomed me during a convention when I was still a state senator and very few people could pronounce my name right. Like you, Michelle and I have walked these streets. Like you, we know these neighborhoods. And like you, in this moment of grief, we join you in saying -- “Boston, you’re my home.” For millions of us, what happened on Monday is personal. It’s personal.
Today our prayers are with the Campbell family of Medford. They're here today. Their daughter, Krystle, was always smiling. Those who knew her said that with her red hair and her freckles and her ever-eager willingness to speak her mind, she was beautiful, sometimes she could be a little noisy, and everybody loved her for it. She would have turned 30 next month. As her mother said through her tears, “This doesn’t make any sense.”
Our prayers are with the Lu family of China, who sent their daughter, Lingzi, to BU so that she could experience all this city has to offer. She was a 23-year-old student, far from home. And in the heartache of her family and friends on both sides of a great ocean, we’re reminded of the humanity that we all share.
Our prayers are with the Richard family of Dorchester -- to Denise and their young daughter, Jane, as they fight to recover. And our hearts are broken for 8-year-old Martin -- with his big smile and bright eyes. His last hours were as perfect as an 8-year-old boy could hope for -- with his family, eating ice cream at a sporting event. And we’re left with two enduring images of this little boy -- forever smiling for his beloved Bruins, and forever expressing a wish he made on a blue poster board: “No more hurting people. Peace.”
Our prayers are with the injured -— so many wounded, some gravely. From their beds, some are surely watching us gather here today. And if you are, know this: As you begin this long journey of recovery, your city is with you. Your commonwealth is with you. Your country is with you. We will all be with you as you learn to stand and walk and, yes, run again. Of that I have no doubt. You will run again. Because that’s what the people of Boston are made of. Your resolve is the greatest rebuke to whoever committed this heinous act. If they sought to intimidate us, to terrorize us, to shake us from those values that Deval described, the values that make us who we are, as Americans -- well, it should be pretty clear by now that they picked the wrong city to do it. Not here in Boston.
You’ve shown us, Boston, that in the face of evil, Americans will lift up what’s good. In the face of cruelty, we will choose compassion. In the face of those who would visit death upon innocents, we will choose to save and to comfort and to heal. We’ll choose friendship. We’ll choose love.
Scripture teaches us, “God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.” And that’s the spirit you’ve displayed in recent days. When doctors and nurses, police and firefighters and EMTs and Guardsmen run towards explosions to treat the wounded -- that’s discipline. When exhausted runners, including our troops and veterans -- who never expected to see such carnage on the streets back home -- become first responders themselves, tending to the injured -- that’s real power. When Bostonians carry victims in their arms, deliver water and blankets, line up to give blood, open their homes to total strangers, give them rides back to reunite with their families -- that’s love.
That’s the message we send to those who carried this out and anyone who would do harm to our people. Yes, we will find you. And, yes, you will face justice. We will find you. We will hold you accountable. But more than that; our fidelity to our way of life -- to our free and open society -- will only grow stronger. For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but one of power and love and self-discipline.
Like Bill Iffrig, 78 years old -- the runner in the orange tank top who we all saw get knocked down by the blast -- we may be momentarily knocked off our feet, but we’ll pick ourselves up. We’ll keep going. We will finish the race. In the words of Dick Hoyt, who’s pushed his disabled son, Rick, in 31 Boston Marathons -- “We can’t let something like this stop us."
And that’s what you’ve taught us, Boston. That’s what you’ve reminded us -- to push on. To persevere. To not grow weary. To not get faint. Even when it hurts. Even when our heart aches. We summon the strength that maybe we didn’t even know we had, and we carry on. We finish the race. And we do that because of who we are. And we do that because we know that somewhere around the bend a stranger has a cup of water. Around the bend, somebody is there to boost our spirits. On that toughest mile, just when we think that we’ve hit a wall, someone will be there to cheer us on and pick us up if we fall. We know that.
And that’s what the perpetrators of such senseless violence -- these small, stunted individuals who would destroy instead of build, and think somehow that makes them important -- that’s what they don’t understand. Our faith in each other, our love for each other, our love for country, our common creed that cuts across whatever superficial differences there may be -- that is our power. That’s our strength.
That’s why a bomb can’t beat us. That’s why we don’t hunker down. That’s why we don’t cower in fear. We carry on. We race. We strive. We build, and we work, and we love -- and we raise our kids to do the same. And we come together to celebrate life, and to walk our cities, and to cheer for our teams. When the Sox and Celtics and Patriots or Bruins are champions again -- to the chagrin of New York and Chicago fans -- the crowds will gather and watch a parade go down Boylston Street.
And this time next year, on the third Monday in April, the world will return to this great American city to run harder than ever, and to cheer even louder, for the 118th Boston Marathon. Bet on it.
Tomorrow, the sun will rise over Boston. Tomorrow, the sun will rise over this country that we love. This special place. This state of grace. Scripture tells us to “run with endurance the race that is set before us.” As we do, may God hold close those who’ve been taken from us too soon. May He comfort their families. And may He continue to watch over these United States of America.
Remembrance of Victims of the Boston Marathon Bombing:
Rest In the Peace Lu Lingzi (1990-2013)
Boston University Class of 2013
Shenyang, Liaoning, China
Rest In the Peace Krystle Marie Campbell (1984-2013)
Medford, Massachusetts
Rest In the Peace Martin William Richard (2005-2013)
Dorchester, Massachusetts
Rest In the Peace Patrolman Sean A. Collier (1986-2013)
MIT Campus Police Department
Wilmington, Massachusetts
Rest In the Peace Patrolman Dennis "DJ" Simmonds (1986-2014)
Boston Police Department
Boston, Massachusetts
One Boston Day Special 2024:
Join with Mayor Michelle Wu and the City of Boston will host their 10th Annual One Boston Day special to remembrance of those victims, families and the first responders were affected on that day of the Boston Marathon Bombing tragedy on Monday, April 15, 2013.
This would be a great opportunity for the residents, persons with disabilities, citizens of Boston, citizens of Massachusetts and the elected officials are welcome to participate for the community service in all across the citywide here in the City of Boston.
Find out more information on the "One Boston Day" special available to open for the public: www.onebostonday.org.