Obama at Ground Zero: 'We will never forget'

"When we say we will never forget, we mean what we say," Obama said today during a stop en route to a wreath laying at the site where the World Trade Center towers once stood
By David Jackson, USA TODAY

President Obama speaking to firefighters today in New York.CAPTIONBy JEWEL SAMAD, AFP/Getty ImagesPresident Obama told crew members at a New York fire station that lost 15 comrades on 9/11 that the death of Osama bin Laden sends a strong message to the nation and to the world.

"When we say we will never forget, we mean what we say," Obama said today during a stop en route to a wreath laying at the site where the World Trade Center towers once stood.

Located in midtown at 48th Street and Eighth Avenue, the "Pride of Midtown Firehouse" -- one of the busiest in the world -- lost 15 people after the attack on Sept. 11, 2001.

Arriving to the applause of nearby crowd, Obama greeted each member of the company and then stopped to examine a plaque bearing the names of those who gave their lives on 9/11.

"This is a symbolic site of the extraordinary sacrifice that was made on that terrible day," Obama told company members.




Ground Zero.CAPTIONBy Seth Wenig, AP"I wanted to come here to thank you," Obama said.



The president then went in to lunch with crew now assigned to engine company 54, ladder 4, battalion 9. The president joked that he also visited the firehouse because "I hear the food was pretty good."

Obama is scheduled to lay a wreath at Ground Zero itself around 1:25 p.m.

In his remarks, Obama also said that the commitment to making sure justice was done "is something that transcended politics, transcended party."




Spokesman Jay Carney said Obama wanted to visit the city in the wake of bin Laden's death "in order to recognize the terrible loss that New York suffered on 9/11 and to acknowledge the burden that families of the victims and the loved ones of the victims have been carrying with them since 9/11."


After a short plane ride from Washington, Obama choppered to a landing zone near Wall Street shortly after 11 a.m., with two limos and a pair of firetrucks waiting.

Also on hand to greet Obama: Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who led the city after the World Trade Center attack.

During the visit to the firehouse, Obama lauded Giuliani for his "heroic acts" on 9/11.