CHOICE OF MUSIC
As it became clear that the attack on the World Trade Center Towers in New York City was an act of war, a Spirit of Patriotism arose from the still burning rubble as police, fire, and port authority personnel frantically searched the rubble for survivors. In a moment of reflection, fire personnel raised the American flag atop the rubble. It was readily likened to the resolve of Marines raising the flag on Iwo Jima for their 6,800 comrades who lost their lives in the 1945 battle in World War II.
The background music for this page of the WTC section was chosen as it had been favored by the rescuers. It was composed by Irving Berlin in 1938 as threats of war were beginning in Europe. Berlin had written it twenty years earlier, i.e. after WW I, as a 'peace song' but never finished it. After some revision, it was first performed by a gal named Kate Smith on Armistice Day of 1938. It became an immediate success and was played regularly as a inspiration during the war years and a beyond. Ironically, Kate Smith had initially entered nursing school before being tempted away by an opportunity to pursue her love of singing. One can readily propose that her rendition of Berlin's song was but another form of nursing care during many moments of emotional ill health that people experienced during those years of war as well as perhaps in the present. |
