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Patriot's Day Actors To Mark Sept. 11
Josey1
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Patriot's Day Actors To Mark Sept. 11
By THEO EMERY
Associated Press Writer
April 14, 2002, 2:04 PM EDT
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-patriots-day0414apr14.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines
LEXINGTON, Mass. (AP) -- Just before dawn, after the gun smoke clears from a salvo of British musket fire, eight men will lie motionless upon the Lexington Battle Green, as has happened in every annual re-enactment of the April 19, 1775, skirmish between British regulars and colonists.
But when the somber actors and onlookers retreat Monday to the Lexington town cemetery, they will honor more than just the area colonists cut down 227 years ago. They also will remember those who died in another brazen morning attack -- on Sept. 11, 2001.
"The word patriotism has returned with the events that took place on September 11," said William F. Mix, a volunteer who re-enacts the fateful day now celebrated as Patriot's Day.
"It gives that extra feeling of awe as to what these people did to give us a start and give us a country where we have the rights and freedoms we do," he said.
In the tinderbox where the sparks of the American Revolution first flew, the shadow of Sept. 11 hangs over this year's Patriot's Day that marks the start of the Revolutionary War.
The changes are not obvious. Re-enactors of British troops cheer as always as they march from Lexington toward their rout at Concord as they have done for 32 years. Paul Revere saddles up to ride from Boston through the night, and at Battle Road, actors in British and colonial garb trade phantom musket fire.
But as Americans ponder the nation's most deadly attack on domestic soil, the nation's history has subtle new shades of meaning.
Skip Hayward, 52, a former president of the Lexington Historical Society, said a larger crowd was expected for events Monday than for past Patriot's Day celebrations because of the nation's desire to reconnect with its roots.
"Americans tend to forget things, and the flags come down eventually. It's our hope that no one will forget Patriot's Day," he said. "Obviously September 11 has stirred a lot of feelings in people, and what better way than to celebrate the first day of the war for independence."
Michael Ryan, an associate dean at Boston College and the official historian for the Concord and Lincoln Minute Men, changed the text of the speech he will deliver this year at North Bridge, site of a fateful confrontation between colonists and British regulars.
In the narrative, which describes how farmers rushed from neighboring towns when they saw smoke rising over Concord, Ryan points out that "such valor has been reflected throughout our national history in no less an instance than that of September past."
Sept. 11 gives Patriot's Day -- a state holiday only in Massachusetts and Maine -- far more meaning today than in the past, when it was mostly known for "that road race they run in Boston," Ryan said, referring to Monday's Boston Marathon.
"You had firemen and police putting their lives on the line to help each other, and that's what surrounding towns did when they went to Concord. They went to support their friends and neighbors, and some ended up giving their lives," he said. "Sometimes in history, things like this give us reason to pause to think about who we are and why."
Jim Hollister, 29, of Littleton, paused while polishing the musket he shows to school children visiting Minute Man National Historic Park. Just as in 1775, last fall's events shocked the nation into an uncertain future, he said.
"You always look to the past for guidance and strength. Their lives were turned upside down by what happened April 19th," he said. "We got the same thing after Sept. 11."
John Rodriguez, 46, and Ileana Rodriguez, 46, of Miami, visited past Revolutionary War sites the week before Patriot's Day, driving from site to site between Boston and Concord.
They said they could feel the nation's renewed sense of history and patriotism.
"Coming from someone who's not really been a history buff, I'm looking at it in a different way," said Ileana Rodriguez. "Patriotism in general is heightened. There no ifs, ands or buts about it." ___
On the Web: http://www.battleroad.org
The Concord Museum: http://www.concordmuseum.org
Museum of Our National Heritage: http://www.monh.org/
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
By THEO EMERY
Associated Press Writer
April 14, 2002, 2:04 PM EDT
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-patriots-day0414apr14.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines
LEXINGTON, Mass. (AP) -- Just before dawn, after the gun smoke clears from a salvo of British musket fire, eight men will lie motionless upon the Lexington Battle Green, as has happened in every annual re-enactment of the April 19, 1775, skirmish between British regulars and colonists.
But when the somber actors and onlookers retreat Monday to the Lexington town cemetery, they will honor more than just the area colonists cut down 227 years ago. They also will remember those who died in another brazen morning attack -- on Sept. 11, 2001.
"The word patriotism has returned with the events that took place on September 11," said William F. Mix, a volunteer who re-enacts the fateful day now celebrated as Patriot's Day.
"It gives that extra feeling of awe as to what these people did to give us a start and give us a country where we have the rights and freedoms we do," he said.
In the tinderbox where the sparks of the American Revolution first flew, the shadow of Sept. 11 hangs over this year's Patriot's Day that marks the start of the Revolutionary War.
The changes are not obvious. Re-enactors of British troops cheer as always as they march from Lexington toward their rout at Concord as they have done for 32 years. Paul Revere saddles up to ride from Boston through the night, and at Battle Road, actors in British and colonial garb trade phantom musket fire.
But as Americans ponder the nation's most deadly attack on domestic soil, the nation's history has subtle new shades of meaning.
Skip Hayward, 52, a former president of the Lexington Historical Society, said a larger crowd was expected for events Monday than for past Patriot's Day celebrations because of the nation's desire to reconnect with its roots.
"Americans tend to forget things, and the flags come down eventually. It's our hope that no one will forget Patriot's Day," he said. "Obviously September 11 has stirred a lot of feelings in people, and what better way than to celebrate the first day of the war for independence."
Michael Ryan, an associate dean at Boston College and the official historian for the Concord and Lincoln Minute Men, changed the text of the speech he will deliver this year at North Bridge, site of a fateful confrontation between colonists and British regulars.
In the narrative, which describes how farmers rushed from neighboring towns when they saw smoke rising over Concord, Ryan points out that "such valor has been reflected throughout our national history in no less an instance than that of September past."
Sept. 11 gives Patriot's Day -- a state holiday only in Massachusetts and Maine -- far more meaning today than in the past, when it was mostly known for "that road race they run in Boston," Ryan said, referring to Monday's Boston Marathon.
"You had firemen and police putting their lives on the line to help each other, and that's what surrounding towns did when they went to Concord. They went to support their friends and neighbors, and some ended up giving their lives," he said. "Sometimes in history, things like this give us reason to pause to think about who we are and why."
Jim Hollister, 29, of Littleton, paused while polishing the musket he shows to school children visiting Minute Man National Historic Park. Just as in 1775, last fall's events shocked the nation into an uncertain future, he said.
"You always look to the past for guidance and strength. Their lives were turned upside down by what happened April 19th," he said. "We got the same thing after Sept. 11."
John Rodriguez, 46, and Ileana Rodriguez, 46, of Miami, visited past Revolutionary War sites the week before Patriot's Day, driving from site to site between Boston and Concord.
They said they could feel the nation's renewed sense of history and patriotism.
"Coming from someone who's not really been a history buff, I'm looking at it in a different way," said Ileana Rodriguez. "Patriotism in general is heightened. There no ifs, ands or buts about it." ___
On the Web: http://www.battleroad.org
The Concord Museum: http://www.concordmuseum.org
Museum of Our National Heritage: http://www.monh.org/
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
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