Touring the 9/11 Tribute Center, General Grass and New York Adjutant Major General Patrick Murphy discussed the similar ways in which both the Guard and Tribute educate the public about the significance of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

The 9/11 Tribute Center offers a place where visitors can connect with people from the September 11th community including family members who lost loved ones in 9/11, survivors of the attacks, rescue and recovery workers, and residents of the area. Through walking tours, exhibits and programs, the 9/11 Tribute Center offers a "Person to Person History," linking visitors with stories of 9/11 told by those who were there.

Bringing the two groups together was retired Army Major General Joseph Taluto, chairman of the Rainbow Division Veterans Foundation, who led a significant part of the New York National Guard's response at the World Trade Center after the attacks, then led National Guard forces during combat deployment to Iraq as commander of the 42nd Infantry Division Headquarters. Taluto retired in 2009 as the Adjutant General of New York.

"A lot of our nation's blood went overseas from right here," Taluto said of the WTC site. "That humanity of hundreds of thousands of Guardsmen who went overseas to fight all started here."

The terror attacks at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 forever changed the way Americans and the world viewed New York City. The same is true for the National Guard, said Jennifer Adams, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of the 9/11 Tribute Center. "It is a difficult topic," Adams said, "How do you teach 9/11?"

"The Guard's story is a very positive and unique one. They helped bring normalcy back to New Yorkers. The National Guard's continued response, on active duty in the Middle East, and here in New York to this very day," Adams continued.

"How can we send off our beautiful men and women to war and then bring them here and standing next to them is a school group that knows nothing of 9/11?" asks Lee Ielpi, President and co-founder of the 9/11 Tribute Center, "We are only scratching the surface with this, with the National Guard. We need education, and we have a long way to go."  

After visiting the galleries, Tribute docents guided them onto the 9/11 Memorial and shared their personal 9/11 experiences. Lee Ielpi welcomed the guests and inspired them to dedicate themselves to return to their school districts around the nation to empower and encourage their teachers to make sure that they teach their students about 9/11, understanding this pivotal moment that changed their generation and the 21st century.   

One of the participating superintendents described his tour walking through our museum galleries followed by going onto the 9/11 Memorial with one of our guides, as the greatest experience he had during his trip to New York City. He said that he had not expected to get so much out of a walking tour and to feel such a deep connection with the guide. 

Towards the end of the Discovery Education event, Lee Ielpi urged attendees to put 9/11 in their curriculum, "The importance of education, understanding, enlightenment is paramount for the welfare of our children, globally, considering the climate of the world today."

"Let our teachers do what they do best, teach. Let's build a foundation to move forward with a curriculum to make tomorrow better for all," he concluded.

On March 20, 1995, a sarin attack on the Tokyo subway was an act of domestic terrorism. Tokyo Metro and police officials held a short ceremony on March 20th in the Kasumigaseki station of the subway to observe the 18th anniversary of the sarin nerve gas attack. Flowers were placed at the station, and at 8 a.m.-the time it happened-a moment of silence. One of the attendees was Shizue Takahashi, whose husband was then a subway official and a victim of the incident. "Eighteen years have passed, but the memory of that day is still vivid," she said.

Family members of the victims and survivors of the attack formed the Tokyo Subway Sarin Incident Victims Association to advocate for victims' rights and recognition of the attack. In 2008, thirteen years after the event, Mrs. Takahashi, the founder of the Tokyo Subway Sarin Incident Victims Association, was pleased to share that a bill was passed by the Japanese government to recognize and provide benefits for the victims of the Tokyo Subway Sarin Gas Attack. Members of the 9/11 Tribute Center/September 11th Families' Association had traveled to Japan in 2005 in support of the Association at the request of Mrs. Takahashi.

Last year, Lee Ielpi returned to Japan with docents from the 9/11 Tribute Center to support victims devastated by the tsunami.  Mrs. Takahashi was there to greet them and on this anniversary of the sarin attack, she said, "My family and I went to Kasumigaseki Station to extend our remembrance with flowers today. Time flies, and sometimes I am so concerned and frightened when I know that people forget that abhorrent terrorist subway sarin gas attack. For my simple little thought of not having that incident fade with time, I will continue to speak up. Lee, please know that you are the very person who made me stronger. I was determined to continue speaking up when I met you. You gave a tip to embrace hope not just for sarin gas incidents' victims like ourselves, but for people in Tohoku (the hard-hit area by the tsunamis) as well."

At the height of morning rush hour on the morning of March 20, 1995, in five coordinated attacks, the perpetrators released deadly sarin gas on several lines of the Tokyo Metro, killing 13 people and injuring 6,300, many of whom still suffer from nerve and vision damage today. The attack was directed against trains passing through Kasumigaseki and Nagatachō, home to the Japanese government. All ten perpetrators initially escaped. Most were captured almost immediately, but a very few were able to stay in hiding until as recently as last year. All ten have now been sentenced to life imprisonment or death.

The 9/11 Tribute Center remembers the thirteen people murdered, their loved ones and the thousands who survived and who continue to suffer today.