20 years after St. Nicholas Church was destroyed on 9/11, it will reopen as a shrine for the lives lost
CBSN
St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church hasn't been open for two decades. The church was located steps way from the World Trade Center, and it was completely destroyed on September 11, 2001. But this week, just ahead of the 20th anniversary of 9/11, St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church will be reborn.
The 80-year-old house of worship has been rebuilt near One World Trade Center. On Friday, the National Shrine will be lit, carrying forward the memory of the nearly 3,000 lives lost on 9/11, Father Alexander Karloutsos said in an interview on CBSN. The original church, located at 155 Cedar Street, was founded in 1916 by Greek immigrants in lower Manhattan who purchased a tavern as a community house. It was often Greek immigrants' first stop after seeing the Statue of Liberty at Ellis Island, the church's website explains.Ashley White received her earliest combat action badge from the United States Army soon after the first lieutenant arrived in Afghanistan. The silver military award, recognizing soldiers who've been personally engaged by an attacker during conflict, was considered an achievement in and of itself as well as an affirming rite of passage for the newly deployed. White had earned it for using her own body to shield a group of civilian women and children from gunfire that broke out in the midst of her third mission in Kandahar province. All of them survived. She never mentioned the badge to anyone in her battalion.
The knock at the door came at nighttime on Mother's Day 2008 in Oregon, where Jessica Ellis' parents lived. It was around 9:20 p.m. and his wife, Linda, was already in bed; her father Steve Ellis told CBS News, that he thought someone let their animals out — but two soldiers in Class A uniforms were standing at the door.