Today, as my wife Tammy prepares to run her third marathon, and all of us in the Commonwealth mark this momentous day, I want to share these memories from the events of last year…
“But deliver us from evil”
One year ago I was stripping wallpaper on a rare day off from duties as Lt. Governor when I received the call from a staff member to let me know there had been several explosions at the Boston Marathon finish line. The staffer speculated it might be a gas related event, but my immediate fear was that it was something far more sinister given it was Patriot’s Day and the location of the blasts. I quickly cleaned up and drove to the MEMA Bunker in Framingham to meet my state police detail.
As I drove to Framingham I recalled an event earlier in our Administration when electronic devices that looked like explosives were attached to bridges in the Boston area. We were criticized by some in the Boston media at the time for overreacting to what turned out to be a hoax. But, on this day we would soon learn that the explosions at the Marathon were not a hoax but evil in our midst.
Upon my arrival at the MEMA Bunker, I was briefed by state officials and spoke with Governor Patrick by telephone as officials in Boston worked to treat the injured, secure the scene and determine if more attacks were imminent. At the Bunker multiple TV screens on the massive underground wall simultaneously ran news feeds while personnel from various local, state and federal agencies gathered information over dozens of phones and deployed resources in response to the carnage and the still unknown threat.
