Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani called the 9/11 terrorist attacks the “worst” and, in some ways, “greatest” day of his life as he reflected on the heroism of first responders and the unity of the city.
Giuliani, who was the mayor when terrorists crashed two planes into the twin towers of the World Trade Center over 20 years ago, said the attack was the worst foreign attack on U.S. soil since the War of 1812.
WE SHOULD REMEMBER WHAT THEY LEFT BEHIND
“It’s feelings or complex feelings. I guess the best way to describe it is [that it] was the worst day of my life. And in some ways, you know, the greatest day of my [life] in terms of my city, my country, my family. It was the worst foreign attack on this country since the War of 1812,” Giuliani told Newsmax host Shaun Kraisman on Friday. “It was an attack on completely innocent people, and I watched it firsthand.”
One of the most shocking moments of the day, Giuliani recalled, was when a man jumped from 101 stories. When the man hit the ground, Giuliani said he turned to then-Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik to express his shock over the magnitude of the situation.
“I said, ‘Bernie, this is beyond anything we’ve ever faced before. We’re going to have to throw out our books,'” Giuliani said. “‘We’re going to have to make this one up based on our instincts. Then we’re going to have to pray to God we made the right decision.'”
The former mayor said children today are learning about the survivors of the attacks in the same way his generation learned about the bravery of soldiers in World War II.
“The young people are learning how these forebearers of theirs, just 21 years ago, how strong they were — the way we learned when we grew up how strong the generation of the Second World War was,” Giuliani said. “This was an extraordinarily brave response, a country that has an enormous depth of strength in their liberty and freedom.”
Although the attack targeted the United States, global allies stood in solidarity with the U.S. that day, including the late Queen Elizabeth II, who died at the age of 96 on Thursday.
“The queen bestowed on me the knight commander of the British Empire,” Giuliani said. “I’ll never forget it. She was not only a strong supporter of America but one of the people who gave us so much help.”
The queen broke with tradition in the aftermath of the attacks, ordering the Coldstream Guards band outside Buckingham Palace to play the U.S. national anthem as a crowd of more than 3,000 people, many of them U.S. tourists stranded in England following the attacks, sang and wept outside.
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Sunday marks the 21st anniversary of the attacks, which resulted in the deaths of nearly 3,000 people, approximately 2,750 of whom were in New York.
