Tunnel-to-Towers: A celebration rooted in tragedy

by Staten Island Advance

The rain couldn't keep them away.

An estimated 20,000 people crowded the Gowanus Expressway in Brooklyn yesterday to take part in the 2008 Tunnel-to-Towers Run, a 3.1-mile course that retraces the footsteps firefighter Stephen Siller took on Sept. 11, 2001 when he got out of his car and ran back into the burning buildings after learning about the planes that crashed into the World Trade Center.

One man ran along the line of firefighters, pointing to each fireman as he moved along the line.

 

"Thank you," he shouted to the first of the firefighters.

"Thank you ... thank you ... thank you