9/11 Anniversary marked with somber tributes
NEW YORK (AP) — As bells tolled solemnly, Americans marked the 12th anniversary
of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on Wednesday with the reading of the
names, moments of silence and serene music that have become tradition.
At a morning ceremony on the 2-year-old memorial plaza at the site of the World Trade Center, relatives recited the names of the nearly 3,000 people who died when hijacked jets crashed into the twin towers and the Pentagon and near Shanksville, Pa., as well as the 1993 trade center bombing victims' names.
In Washington, President Barak Obama, joined by first lady Michelle
Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and wife Jill Biden, and members of the
White House staff, walked out to the South Lawn at 8:46 a.m. — the
moment the first plane struck the south tower in New York. Another
jetliner struck the Pentagon at 9:37 a.m.
"It is an honor to be with you here again to remember the tragedy of
12 Septembers ago, to honor the greatness of all who responded and to
stand with those who still grieve and to provide them some measure of
comfort once more," Obama said. "Together we pause and we give humble
thanks as families and as a nation."
At the site in lower Manhattan, friends and families silently held up photos of the deceased. Others wept.
"Daddy, I miss you so much, and I think about you every day,"
Christina Aceto said of her father, Richard Anthony Aceto. "You were
more than just my daddy, you were my best friend."
Bells tolled to mark the second plane hitting the second tower and
the moments when the towers fell. Near the memorial plaza, police
barricades were blocking access to the site, even as life around the
World Trade Center looked like any other morning, with workers rushing
to their jobs and construction cranes looming over the area.
"As time passes and our family grows, our children remind us of
you," Angilic Casalduc said of her mother, Vivian Casalduc. "We miss
you."
Loved ones milled around the memorial site, making rubbings of
names, putting flowers by the names of victims and weeping, arm-in-arm.
Former Gov. George Pataki, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and others
were in attendance. Continuing a decision made last year, no
politicians will speak, including Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who was
watching the ceremony for his final time in office.
Over his years as mayor and chairman of the National Sept. 11
Memorial & Museum, Bloomberg has sometimes tangled with victims'
relatives, religious leaders and other elected officials over an event
steeped in symbolism and emotion. But his administration has largely
succeeded at its goal of keeping the commemoration centered on the
attacks' victims and their families and relatively free of political
image-making.
"Joe, we honor you today and all those lost on Sept. 11," said
Kathleen O'Shea, whose nephew Joseph Gullickson was a firefighter in
Brooklyn. "Everyone sends their love and asks that you continue to
watch over us all, especially your wife."
Memorial organizers expect to take primary responsibility for the
ceremony next year and say they plan to continue concentrating the
event on victims' loved ones, even as the forthcoming museum creates a
new, broader framework for remembering 9/11.
"As things evolve in the future, the focus on the remembrance is going to stay sacrosanct," memorial President Joe Daniels said.
Karen Hinson of Seaford, N.Y., who lost her 34-year-old brother,
Michael Wittenstein, a Cantor Fitzgerald employee, said she would like
the annual ceremony to be "more low-key, more private" as the years go
by.
The 12th anniversary arrives amid changes at the Flight 93 National
Memorial in Shanksville, where officials gathered Tuesday to herald the
start of construction on a visitor center. At the Pentagon, plans call
for a morning ceremony for victims' relatives and survivors of the
attacks and an afternoon observance for Pentagon workers.
Around the world, thousands of volunteers have pledged to do good
deeds, honoring an anniversary that was designated a National Day of
Service and Remembrance in 2009.
When Bloomberg and Pataki announced the plans for the first
anniversary in 2002, the mayor said the "intent is to have a day of
observances that are simple and powerful."
His role hasn't always been comfortable. When the ceremony was
shifted to nearby Zuccotti Park in 2007 because of rebuilding at the
trade center site, some victims' relatives threatened to boycott the
occasion. The lead-up to the 10th anniversary brought pressure to
invite more political figures and to include clergy in the ceremony.
By next year's anniversary, Bloomberg will be out of office, and the museum is expected to be open beneath the memorial plaza.
While the memorial honors those killed, the museum is intended to
present a broader picture of 9/11, including the experiences of
survivors and first responders.
But the organizers expect they "will always keep the focus on the
families on the anniversary," Daniels said. That focus was clear as
relatives gathered last September on the tree-laden plaza, where a
smaller crowd was gathering Wednesday — only friends and family of the
victims were allowed.
Bruni Sandolval carried a large photo of childhood friend Nereida DeJesus, a victim.
"We grew up together on the Lower East Side and I come every year
with her family," she said. "Coming here is peaceful in a way."
Denise Matuza, who lost her husband on Sept. 11, said people ask her why she still comes to the service with her three sons.
"It doesn't make us feel good to stay home," she said. Her husband
called after the towers were struck. "He said a plane hit the building,
they were finding their way out, he'd be home in a little while. I just
waited and waited," she said.
"A few days later I found an email he had sent that they couldn't get out."
___
Associated Press writers Verena Dobnik and Jim Fitzgerald in New
York and Nedra Pickler in Washington contributed to this report.
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