The nation marked Thursday with moments of silence and public reflections on the more than 3,000 lives lost on Sept. 11, 2001. At Ground Zero, bagpipers, a drummer and guards escorted a U.S. flag into the site where the World Trade Center towers had stood as children sang “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Other children, some in tears, read the 2,792 names of parents and other loved ones killed that day as hijacked jets crashed into the towers, bringing them down as the world watched in horror.
Many of the 200 children, standing two by two on a dais, most dressed casually, included a personal message. Christina Marie Aceto, 12, said: “I love you, Daddy. I miss you a lot. Richard Anthony Aceto.”
Mayor Michael Bloomberg, speaking on NBC’s “Today” show ahead of the ceremony, said: “We’re trying to look to the future, and that’s why we have the children of those that were lost reading the names.
“The children tie us to the past ... and the future, where the children will go out and get on with their lives,” he said.
The ceremony fell silent at four moments: at 8:46 a.m. ET and 9:03 a.m., when hijackers crashed two passenger planes into the 110-story World Trade Center towers, and at 9:59 a.m. and 10:29 a.m., when each tower crumbled to the ground.
Readings between the silences and names included a poem written by the mother of a firefighter who was killed. Joan Molinaro began her poem to her son, Carl Molinaro, with these words:
“In the quiet of my heart
“I hold your hand,
“Little boy of mine.”
The readings took 2½ hours; two trumpeters blew taps as a postscript.
Some of the victims’ relatives knelt to touch the trade center’s bedrock during the ceremony, and a few scooped up handfuls of dirt. As the names were read, some held up cellular telephones so others unable to attend could hear.
At sunset, two light beams pointing skyward were switched on, evoking the image of the twin towers in a reprise of a popular monthlong memorial unveiled in March 2002.
Honor, pride on display
During the main ceremny, Rudolph Giuliani, who was dubbed “America’s Mayor” for his leadership as mayor during New York’s darkest hour, invoked the fighting spirit of Britain’s World War II leader, Winston Churchill.
“Winston Churchill ... always believed, and we believe, that people who live in freedom have something to live for, something to fight for and even something to die for, and they will prevail over those that live in oppression,” Giuliani said.
“Winston Churchill taught us that our ideas and ideals of freedom and democracy will prevail.”
But it was the children who provided the most touching source of pride and sense of honor.
“I’m very proud of my children,” said Lynn Morris, whose husband, Seth Allan Morris, died Sept. 11, 2001. Their two children, 11-year-old Madilynn and 9-year-old Kyle, read names. “It’s amazing the strength that they have developed over the years.”
Morris looked up articles so her children could match faces to the names. Madilynn was reading 14 names, finishing with that of her father, who was 35 and worked at brokerage Cantor Fitzgerald in the trade center.
“I thought it would be a good way to honor my dad,” Madilynn said, “and to honor the other people.”
During the readings, families of victims descended a ramp into the seven-story pit that was the trade center’s basement and placed flowers and photographs on the bedrock.
Vice President Dick Cheney attended a Manhattan church ceremony for 84 dead Port Authority workers instead of the Ground Zero event because of concerns that extra security there would inconvenience victims’ families.
D.C., Pennsylvania events
In Washington, President Bush was on the South Lawn of the White House to observe the moment when American Airlines Flight 11 struck the trade center’s north tower, beginning the attacks.
The president and top aides began the day with a church service.
“We remember lives lost. We remember the heroic deeds. We remember the compassion, the decency of our fellow citizens on that terrible day,” Bush said after attending the service at St. John’s Church near the White House.
During the service, members of Bush’s administration read biblical passages stressing faith amid anxious times and challenges from evil.
“Do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself,” Secretary of State Colin Powell said, quoting the New Testament Gospel of Matthew.
Silences at the service were broken by the sound of aircraft flying from nearby National Airport, which was closed for weeks after the attacks.
Memorials at other Sept. 11 sites were keyed to each place’s moment of attack.
A ceremony at the Pentagon included a moment of silence at 9:37 a.m., when the impact of a jetliner killed 184 people.
And in southwest Pennsylvania, bells tolled in rural towns shortly after 10 a.m. to mark the time when the fourth hijacked plane plunged into a field there, killing the 40 passengers and crew, who were hailed as heroes for trying to prevent greater catastrophe.
Services elsewhere
Other parts of the nation remembered the attacks, as well.
At Logan International Airport in Boston, where two of the hijacked planes took off, there was a moment of silence.
In Middletown, N.J., 37 black marble monuments — one for each resident killed in the attacks — were placed along a tree-lined path to next to the train station the victims had passed through on their way to New York.
At Engine Co. 5 in Chicago’s West Loop, firefighters saluted a flag at half-staff at the moment American Flight 11 struck the north tower. Among the victims were 343 firefighters.
“We just want to pay our respects to those guys,” Capt. John Pentek said.
In Toledo, Ohio, white doves were to be released after the reading of victims’ names. In Massachusetts and Hawaii, bells were to peal to remember the dead.
Twisted steel taken from the ruins and shipped to other states for memorials are at the center of ceremonies from North Dakota to Florida to a New Mexico church that uses two trade center beams as part of its bell tower.
U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan also marked the tragedy.
“We are the tip of the spear on the global war on terrorism,” Maj. Gen. Ray Odierno, the commander of the Army’s Fourth Infantry Division, with headquarters in Tikrit, Iraq, told about 150 soldiers at a memorial service.
In a speech that began at 9:11 a.m., Odierno said preventing fresh attacks on the United States depended on the success of the U.S. mission in Iraq, where soldiers face car-bomb, mine and mortar attacks from guerrillas.
Indeed, amid the remembrances Thursday, the State Department urged Americans overseas to take special caution, citing growing indications that al-Qaida, the terrorist network blamed for the Sept. 11 attacks, was planning even “more devastating” strikes.
Overseas ceremonies
Elsewhere overseas, Australians planted 3,000 trees in a park in Sydney while Parliament observed a minute’s silence.
At the U.S. Embassy in Manila, prayers followed the laying of a wreath while Philippine special forces patrolled the perimeter.
In Tokyo, Yogo Nomoto, a government worker, summed up the feelings of many as he stood at the U.S. Embassy. “When the terrorism occurred, I think people all over the world sympathized with the United States. But I think the United States has lost its power with its acts over the following two years,” he said.
Many remembered with sympathy. “I still feel for the American victims. The United States has since become more aggressive, but that’s due partly to the September 11 attacks,” said Ashley Wong, a trader in Hong Kong.
Meanwhile, a radical British Muslim group, al Muhajiroun, canceled four meetings across Britain to praise the “magnificent 19” Sept. 11 hijackers because “all four venues have pulled out,” a spokesman said.
Al Muhajiroun, which describes al-Qaida as its “Muslim brothers,” had planned events in honor of the hijackers at undisclosed venues in London and three other cities. Posters showed portraits of the hijackers with al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden’s face superimposed over an image of the World Trade Center in flames.
Police raided the home of al Muhajiroun’s leader, Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammad, in July.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.