Sept. 11, 2001 It was a day of unthinkable horror and destruction, but it became a day for American heroes. Heroes were everywhere you looked. Giants rose out of relative obscurity to cast long shadows across the smoke and dust and rubble. Ordinary American citizens, suddenly caught in the crossfire of terrorism, put their lives on the line to preserve the lives of others. They emerged as the truly mighty and valiant ones of Flight 93. Among the smoldering wreckage of the Pentagon, they stood with undimmed spirits as firefighters unfurled a gigantic flag from the roof of the burned-off structure. And at Ground Zero, hundreds and thousands of people on dozens of fronts searched the mountain of unstable rubble in an epic battle to win back as many lives as could possibly be spared. In that sudden moment of time, the real heroes of our world stood out as brilliant luminaries cast against the darkest night. Most of them remain nameless to us, but their undaunted faces are engraved forever upon our hearts. This book is a tribute to their remarkable stories and a reminder of what true heroism and patriotism are.