IN THE TOWERS OF NO SHADOW, PART II (UPDATED 9/13)

Glimpses of grief, dissent, resolve, and resolution, on the third anniversary of the day (continued from yesterday)...

- First row, first image, a glowing pillar tribute by Marcos Fonzarelli, with site sponsor Billy Madison. (All other builds, unless otherwise stated, hosted for Madison's event in Jaffe.)

- First row, second image, Krashen Byrne's tribute to a military-style toast to the missing.

"The table is round," the note card explains, "to show our everlasting concern for our missing men and women. The tablecloth is white-- symbolizing the purity of their motives. The single red rose, displayed in a vase, reminds us of the life of each of the missing, and the loved ones and friends of these Americans who keep the faith, awaiting answers. The vase is tied with a bow, a symbol of our continued determination to account for our missing. A slice of lemon on the bread plate is to remind us of the bitter fate of those captured and missing in a foreign land. A shaker of salt symbolizes the tears endured by those missing and their families who seek answers. The glass is inverted-- they can not toast with us this night.

"The chair is empty-- they are not here. Remember."

- Second row, two images: "Liberty from the Wreckage", by Zaphod Edison.

- Third row and first image of fourth row, a twin tower triptych by Ming Chen.

"It fades along as it begins to fade in our memory," Ming explains. He points to his first copy of the towers, pristine. "The first one is before." He points to the second, with a jet plane just about to pierce it.

"Second is during." He points to the rubble. "Third is after." The imprecation above it reads, Bastards! Never forget the day/When Cowards Attacked/And Ran Away.

- Fourth row, second image: Twin towers comprised of peace symbols in the colors of a traffic light, by Peredur Vindaloo

"I came down here and saw a lot of pictures of war," Vindaloo tells me, "and patriotic builds." (And indeed, down below, on Madison's land for 9/11, are flags galore, and images of attack choppers unleashing hell, and the like.) "I wanted to balance that out a little," she says. Also, it started as a peace sign and snowballed into what you see now." Vindaloo tells me she's Australian, and that they see 9/11 a bit differently, than most Americans.

"[N]on-Americans see 9/11 as a tragedy of a different kind," she says. "As well as an evil act of despicable brutality, it made America overreact and make the rest of the world less safe for everyone... We [Australians] view 9/11, Bali, and Beslan as part of the same phenomenon: fundamentalist death-obsessed cult terrorism. We're having an election in about a month, so this year has been full of debate about terrorism, the war, and how those are related. For example, whether Iraq made terrorism against Australia more likely or less. So far, the evidence seems to indicate more, unfortunately." She frowns. "So you can see it's a hot issue here too."

I ask her if she had a similar response, after the Bali bombing that massacred so many Australians.

"[T]he same people had exploded a bomb outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta on Thursday," she points out. "I felt mad as hell and wanted the bastards to pay. (The bomb on Thursday killed nine people and injured one hundred)...

"It was a human reaction, but that [desire] to rise above it all is also a human reaction."

- Fifth column, a tribute to a friend and fallen comrade, by Justin Delvecchio.*

The American pilot pictured in Delvecchio's tribute had four days before his tour in Afghanistan was up. He was planning to have a bigger wedding ceremony when he got home, to make up for the rushed matrimony he had with his fiance, just before he shipped out. On that day, four days to homecoming, he flew his chopper to pick up two Afghan children with life-threatening injuries, and spirit them to life-saving medical treatment in Kandahar. Before he could reach them, however, a storm sent the chopper tumbling, and he perished in the crash.

“JH was a dear friend of mine and fellow serviceman," Delvecchio's tribute reads. "And I would do anything to have him back... but when the nation asked him for a favor... J was there.”

Justin Delvecchio built it in honor of his friend, and inspired by 9/11, provoking "[T]he thoughts of why we are in Afghanistan. Brought it all back to me."

Also, he adds, "I'm heading over [to Afghanistan] in about two months."

(When I point out Delvecchio's tribute to Peredur Vindaloo, creator of the peace tower, she says, "If I ever start disrespecting soldiers, I hope someone punches me in the face before it's too late." Peredur smiles. "Thanks.")

- Sixth column, a 9/11 prayer service in Wolof, performed by Rusty Vindaloo.

"Quench now on earth the flames of strife; from passion's heat preserve our life; and while you keep our body whole, pour healing peace upon our soul... I lift up my eyes to the hills; from where is my help to come? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth..."

While Vindaloo continues preaching, someone in the crowd sends me a discrete Instant Message.

"God bless America," he tells me, without preamble. Then later, "I lost three co-workers. And had another who was there, but lived, basically became crippled mentally, because he ran and left the others behind."

"Behold," continues Vindaloo, "The Lord himself watched over you; the Lord is your shade at your right hand, so that the sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve you from all evil; it is he who shall keep you safe..."

When he finishes the reading, he begins a recording which calls out the names of all the people who died that day. The gathered crowd at the service sits in silence, as the names continue across the screen.

... Krishna Moorthy, 59, Briarcliff Manor, N.Y.
Abner Morales, 37, New York, N.Y.
Carlos Morales, 29, New York, N.Y.
Paula Morales, 42, New York, N.Y.
Luis Morales, 46, New York, N.Y.
John Moran, 43, Rockaway, N.Y.
John Christopher Moran, 38, Haslemere, Surrey, England
Kathleen Moran, 42, New York, N.Y.
Lindsay S. Morehouse, 24, New York, N.Y.
George Morell, 47, Mount. Kisco, N.Y.
Steven P. Morello, 52, Bayonne, N.J.

When the list is finished, Rusty Vindaloo looks up. "Lord, I ask that you watch over these people. That they may live amongst you in your great heaven." He returns to scripture.

"A reading from the Book of John:

"'Jesus wept.'

"Amen."

The prayer service continues, and when it's finished, someone I'll call Anne comes up to Rusty Vindaloo.

"Thank you again, Rusty," Anne says. "I lost an uncle in 9/11. You have made it good today. [He] worked maintenance in the tower." Anne hadn't planned to tell Vindaloo this, she tells me later, but her father-- who never cared for her being on the computer so much-- happened to be in the room, during the service for all the dead and the fallen, including his brother. And when he saw this service, he joined her, as much as possible, viewing the rest of the service from over her shoulder.

"My dad was watching too," she says, "and it brought tears to his eyes. And he wants me to thank you for this. Thank you again."

* After posting this, I met Justin in-world, and asked him to tell me more about his late friend JH. He told me this:

"I was his sponsor when he came to Iceland, my first assignment. That meant that I helped him get situated here... [We'd] go out to the bars, drink, drink, and drink. And work. Work was fun. Chased women, just did the young guy thing. Oh my f------ God, [Icelandic women] are the most beautiful women you will ever see, all of them like 5'10", blonde and blue eyes. I mean holy s---, if you ever get a chance, go there! He was a [ladies man], better than me, and that's sayin' something.

"We went camping and hiking a lot on the glaciers. That was fun. Use[d] to play 'Dark Age of Camelot' in Iceland together-- [he played] a Necromancer. He liked working out, and playing softball on the squadron team. He loved the Air Force, and serving. He had a high image of his country and high morals when it came to that. He just believed in being a part of a whole that would protect this great nation.

"I was there one and a half years, he was there one year, about... then he got orders to Japan. [We stayed in contact by] e-mail...

"Not sure [how old he was] at the time of his death, but he was 22 when I met him. I was 20. We were helicopter crewchiefs, but he cross-trained to [be] a flight engineer-- not a pilot, but it's cool. When the helos are broke, we fix 'em, no matter what... and we always had to keep one bird fully mission-capable for rescue. One alert bird, always.

"A few days after [September 2001's terrorist attack, we communicated] through e-mail. We were still shell-shocked, didn't believe [it], but we both were ready to do whatever and go wherever. We wanted to be in it.

Did he stay in touch with you in Afghanistan?

"No, not really. Word of mouth: buddies would e-mail me and say this and that, he was ready to leave, he said what's up, [that] he loves being a Flight Engineer... and that he is doing good. Nothing in-depth.

"[In Afghanistan, he did everything], from inserting Special Ops, to rescue, to aid work... But he what he did when he died, [he] was a flight engineer.

"Lemme tell you what a flight engineer does: Referred to as 'FE', a flight engineer manages the nav waypoints, the 'minus one' (pre-flight check of the helo), fuel load, weight, operates the .50 cal and 7.62 miniguns, operates the hoist for rescue ops, manages radios, lifting capabilities-- everything but flying.

"There are times amputations are done on the helicopters during exfiltration operations... I mean, they are picking up casualties and what not... pretty sobering, washin' blood off your helicopter. People die over there everyday, but you don't know about it, CNN don't know...

"There was one [Afghan] with appendicitis they air-lifted to a hospital. I'm not sure [where], some s-- city to a hospital, I'm sure. A middle-aged Afgan guy. Friends told me it was his first real mission... they [the Afghans] need [our] help.

How you find out he died?

"A phone call... from buddies. 'Hey, did you hear about J?' I [already] knew, inside, when I heard [on the news the day before] we lost a Pavelow (the helicopter).

"I said, 'Yeah, I know, I had a feeling.'

"[I] swallowed deep, tried not to think, then got home that night and cried to my wife. There was [a service] in [the state] where he was based.

"I lit a candle and put it on my doorstep last night, and said a prayer.

What would you say to him now, if you could?

"Nothing... I'd just hug him.

"But if I could only talk, I'd say 'I'm so proud of you, and I would do anything to be in your shoes.'

"Because I believe there is nothing better than to give your life for your country. Just the way I feel. I would love to have the chance to even come close to dying for my country. People think I'm weird for saying it, but oh well. I don't think a lot of [service members] at least put it this way. If I have my way, I will do my best to put myself in harm's way a lot before I get out [of the service], one way or another. And if God picks me, then so be it. I have no fear when it comes to protecting my right and the rights of others.

"I won't sit on [this] base much longer, I'm going to do the 's---.' [In Afghanistan, I'll be] a crewchief. I won't be in it as much as I want.

"I wanna fly full time, and I will, just like J."