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A 9/11 Firefighter's Spirit Is Lifted by a Letter from a 12-Year-Old Girl

Aired on 11/26/2010 | CC tv-pg
Shortly after the 9/11 terror attacks, Miller, a firefighter from Tennessee, was sent to help search for victims' remains at the Pentagon. The devastation, he said, was depressing him...until he read a letter from a 12-year-old named Alex, thanking him for everything he'd done. Miller returned the favor, thanking Alex for lifting his spirits.

When Oprah followed up on the story in 2010, Alex was a senior at American University in Washington, D.C. Miller, it turns out, became a family friend. Here, Miller and Alex see each other in person for the first time in a long while, and Alex explains the power in simply saying, "Thank you."