Exclusive: Tunnel to Towers Foundation CEO Reveals Plans to Honor Fallen 21st-Century Soldiers on Veterans Day
Tunnel to Towers Foundation CEO and Chairman Frank Siller joined SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Saturday, where he discussed the ongoing Never Forget Walk, a 36-day journey to honor service members who have sacrificed their lives in the post-9/11 wars.
The walk began at the Pentagon in Washington, DC, and will end at Ground Zero in New York City. Siller, who is currently in Winchester, Virginia, previously told host Matthew Boyle the walk would conclude on the 20th anniversary of 9/11.
Siller lost his younger brother, a firefighter, in the 9/11 terror attacks on New York City. Siller outlined the day for his brother, who “was on his way home to play golf” with Siller and a few other men when the towers were struck.
“You know what firefighters are going to do… they’re gonna go get their gear and find a way to get there,” Siller said, describing the time his brother heard the news. “He drove to the mouth of the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel, which is almost two miles long. It was closed for security reasons, so he strapped the 60 pounds of gear on his back and ran through that tunnel out the other side to help.”
According to Siller, his brother’s body was never recovered and he lost his life with 343 other firefighters that day. “That is why I am doing this Never Forget Walk,” Siller said. “We can’t forget what happened to America 20 years ago. A lot of people don’t even want to remember it. A lot of people aren’t telling their kids. They’re not teaching it in schools the right way, so I wanted to shine a light on the 20th anniversary.”
“My brother was a hero, there were so many heroes that day, and we are not going to let his memory or his legacy die with people that don’t care,” Siller added.
Siller also suggested schools should be “telling the truth” about what happened on that day. “Just tell what happened,” Siller said. “That Islamic terrorists were trying to kill as many Americans as they could that day and they killed 2,977 and they would have killed more if we had not gone out and gone overseas to the last of them in Iraq and Afghanistan and other places because we need to protect the homeland.”
“You have to teach the truth,” Siller added. “What happened is what happened.”
“Since we’ve went to war, 7,059 men and women who serve our country gave their lives to protect us here on our homeland and we’ve been protected ever since,” Siller said. “That story has to be taught and has to be told.”
Asked about recent protests to defund the police from certain members of Congress and the message it sends amid the 20th anniversary of honoring heroes, including police and firefighters, Siller concluded that most Americans “don’t want to do it.”
“Most Americans understand without your security in your neighborhood, without being safe in your neighborhood, you have no society and if you don’t have a society, you don’t have a country,” Siller said.
“Our military… oh my God,” Siller said with a deep breath. “These guys give us this great country with our liberties and our freedoms so these jerks that wanna say defund the police can say it, but most Americans don’t want to do it.”
“Most Americans love our first responders and they appreciate that they protect us,” Siller added.
Last week, several 9/11 survivors called on President Joe Biden to declassify government documents related to the attacks or skip memorial events this year.
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