On the 20th Anniversary of the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center, Veterans in Trucking is commemorating one former Marine’s heroism, kindness, and self-sacrifice.
On September 11th, 2001 former Marine Benjamin Clark’s day started at 4am.
It was Benjamin’s young son’s first day of school that morning. He had awakened full of fear for his father.
“Don’t go to work today. I don’t have a good feeling today.”
Benjamin (39 years) lived an ordinary life, extraordinarily well. He was a chef famous for his classic meatloaf and for his kindness to others, the Daily Beast recounts from an interview with his mother.
He was a family man. “His wife and the five kids were his life. If my son could have walked around with those kids in his pocket every day, he would have,” his mother remembers.
His neighbor remembers Benjamin Clark not just for how he died, but also how he lived. He was a man of daily, consistent kindness. “He’d never let me pick up a snow shovel,” she said.
“My son was a marine, so you know he wasn’t going to leave anybody behind.”
Benjamin spent eight years in the marines and the day the Twin Towers fell it showed: He is credited for saving hundreds of people. Every single person on his floor in the World Trade Center got out. But that still wasn’t enough for Benjamin.
A hero to the very end, he was on the 78th floor, aiding a woman in a wheelchair, when the South Tower collapsed.
“I still can’t look at him in the past tense because I look at my children and the legacy is still there — the giving, the caring, the loving person.”
We don’t ever want to forget to show our deep appreciation to the service and sacrifice that our countrymen, first responders, and all those that paid the ultimate price to aid others. Truly, whether to family, friends, or country, Benjamin Clark lived the Marine’s code, “Semper Fidelis.”
Always faithful.
