9/11 victim's son gives emotional speech
NEW YORK - Twenty years ago, Vaughn Coleman lost his father, Keith E. Coleman, and his uncle, Scott Coleman in the World Trade Center attack on September 11, 2001.
On Saturday, Vaughn gave an emotional tribute to his father during the reading of the names at a ceremony marking the 20th anniversary of the attacks at ground zero.
"Not a day goes by that I don't think about my father and the horrible way that he was taken from me," Vaughn said. "I think he worked so hard, he deserved to raise his children and be with his wife, but cowards took him from me."
Keith and Scott Coleman worked together at Cantor Fitzgerald, a financial services firm that lost 658 of its employees in the attacks on the World Trade Center. The pair were avid soccer players, and after their death, the Coleman Family and the Westport Soccer Association in Connecticut formed the Coleman Brothers Foundation to support soccer players and others actively involved in youth soccer programs.
The foundation provides opportunities for boys and girls from families with financial needs to participate in travel and other youth soccer programs, coaching, or refereeing.
"Those cowards took a lot of things from us, they took many lives, but there's things they couldn't take," Vaughn said on Saturday. "They can't our spirit, they can't take their spirit, they can't take our memories, they can't take our freedom, they can't take our love, they can't take our country, they can't take those that are defending it. So God Bless America and God Bless everyone who defends it every single day to prevent another tragedy like this."
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