Sep 11, 2009 11:55 pm US/Eastern
In Rain, They Shine: Victims Remembered On 9/11
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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Diane Massaroli (R), of Staten Island, New York holds up a picture of her late husband, Michael Massaroli, who worked at Cantor Fitzgerald at the World Trade Center, as his name is read as they pay their respects at Ground Zero.
Chris Hondros/Getty Images
Families carrying photos of lost loved ones streamed into a plaza near ground zero on Friday to observe the eighth anniversary of the World Trade Center attack, wiping tears and raindrops from their faces under dreary skies.
Hundreds were attending the now-familiar ceremonies in New York City, at the Pentagon and at the crash site of United Airlines Flight 93 in a Shanksville, Pa., field.
In lower Manhattan, families used rain jackets and ponchos to fend off the rain and strong wind as bells tolled at nearby Trinity Church. Mourners observed a moment of silence -- the first of four -- at 8:46 a.m., the time the first hijacked plane hit the World Trade Center. Then the names of victims began to be read.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, speaking at the ceremony's beginning before a large crowd huddled together below a sea of umbrellas, said the city will "safeguard the memories of those who died by rekindling the spirit of service that lit our city with hope and helped keep us strong.
"Eight years we have come together to commemorate this anniversary, and just as our hearts return to those that we lost, we also remember all those who spontaneously ran forward to help," said Bloomberg, fighting the blowing rain and chilly early morning temperatures.
"Eight years ago, countless people played a part in history by doing something to help another person, probably someone they didn't even know," added Bloomberg. "Each act was a link in a continous chain that stopped us from falling into cynism and despair."
Vice President Joe Biden laid flowers at a reflecting pool in front of a smaller-than-usual crowd of just several hundred people. At the plaza southeast of ground zero, family members joined with firefighters meals or removed tons of debris from the smoldering Trade Center site to read victims' names.
Victims' Names Read:
Gordon Aamoth Jr. - Barbara Etzold
Eric B. Evans - Michael J. Horn
Matthew D. Horning - James P. Ladley
Joseph Lafalce - Thomas Reinig
Frank Reisman - Last Victims Named
After a group of names were read, Biden then addressed the brave and solemn crowd, "there's a special fraternity of those of us who have lost spouses and children, but there is also one thing all Americans know to be true and which we remember most when we come to this sight; in our joys and our sorrows, we know we belong to each other."
Reading from the famous poet Mary Oliver, the vice president spoke of a world in which despair was shared, and ultimately triumphed over.
Shortly after Biden, New York Governor David Paterson read Walt Whitman's "I Dreamed In A Dream."
"I dreamed in a dream, I saw a city invincible to the attacks of the whole rest of the earth; I dream'd that was the new city of friends..."
One reader represented a group called New York Says Thank You, which sends volunteers from New York City each year on the attacks anniversary to help rebuild communities around the country affected by disasters as a way to send thanks for the help that came to New York City after Sept. 11.
Other readers were from well-known service organizations including the American Red Cross and the United Way.
Elaine Dejesus of Clifton, N.J., wiping tears off her cheeks, said the anniversaries don't get any easier.
"It doesn't matter what kind of weather there is. I would be here either way. It's a way to come together and find a common place," said Dejesus. She carried a framed photo of Nereida Dejesus, who was her sister and best friend.
"For me, it's just the same as it was the first day," she said. "You start preparing mentally, months in advance. There's a lot of praying."
"There are days I just sit there and cry. But I also remember the fun times and what she would want us to do."
Drawing on the spirit that spurred volunteers to rush to the burning towers on Sept. 11, 2001, Americans also looked for ways to help each other on a day better known for mourning.
Teresa Mathai, whose husband, Joseph Mathai, died at the World Trade Center eight years ago Friday, planned to grieve at a morning wreath-laying ceremony in Boston and hear his name read out loud. Then she planned to install drywall at a home in south Boston with Habitat for Humanity, one of thousands of volunteer efforts planned since Sept. 11 was declared a national day of service.
"Everyone has a different way of mourning," she said. "Some people keep it absolutely sacred. For me, this is something that gives us solace."
The combination of mourning and national giving was troubling to some who feared the volunteerism would overshadow a somber day to remember the four hijacked jetliners that crashed into the twin towers, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field, killing nearly 3,000 people, most in New York.
"When I first heard about it, I was concerned," said Debra Burlingame, whose brother was the pilot of the American Airlines jet that crashed into the Pentagon. "I fear, I greatly fear, at some point we'll transition to turning it into Earth Day where we go and plant trees and the remembrance part will become smaller and smaller and smaller."
Meanwhile, President Barack Obama placed a wreath at the Pentagon in memory of the victims of 9/11.
"Let us renew our resolve against those who perpetrated this barbaric act and who plot against us still," Obama said. "In defense of our nation, we will never waver."
Obama said the strongest rebuke against the terrorist attackers is the nation's renewal of a common purpose. Following the ceremony, the president and first lady Michelle Obama, along with Defense Secretary Robert Gates, greeted families of the victims of the Pentagon, where 184 people died.
The Obamas attended the ceremony after observing a White House moment of silence at precisely 8:46 a.m. the moment the first jetliner struck the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. About 150 White House staffers stood in silence around the Obamas.
"No turning of the season can diminish the pain and the loss of that day," Obama said at the Pentagon as raindrops splattered his suit jacket. "No passage of time and no dark skies can ever dull the meaning of this moment."
Bells tolled for the 40 victims of Flight 93 at the western Pennsylvania site where the plane crashed eight years ago.
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell, former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge and retired General Tommy R. Franks are among those gathered at the site to remember those who died during the Sept. 11 attacks.
Powell is delivering the keynote speech at the commemoration.
Flight 93 was traveling from Newark, N.J., to San Francisco when hijackers took it over with the likely goal of crashing it into the White House or Capitol. The official 9/11 Commission report says the hijackers crashed the plane as passengers tried to wrest control of the cockpit.
Jose Melendez-Perez, a customs agent credited with refusing U.S. entry to a man officials believe was supposed to be the fifth hijacker aboard the flight, was going to the site for the first time. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell was giving the keynote speech.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, who will also be at the memorial service in New York, said Friday that the anniversary is a "day of sorrow and tragedy, but also a day of heroism and unity," and that remembrance and volunteerism are fitting memorials.
"By serving our communities and our country today and throughout the year, we commemorate our past while also preparing for our future," Napolitano said.
Across the country, a fundraiser to repair storm damage at Central Park, beach cleanups and repairs of homeless shelters were among the organized efforts to give back. Obama and Congress declared Sept. 11 a day of service earlier this year.
The attacks killed 40 people in Pennsylvania, 184 at the Pentagon and 2,752 in New York.
This year, one new name will be read -- a victim added to New York's death toll in January. The medical examiner's office ruled that Leon Heyward, who died last year of lymphoma and lung disease, was a homicide victim because he was caught in the toxic dust cloud just after the towers collapsed.
It's the second time the city has added to the victims' list someone who died long after Sept. 11, ruling that exposure to toxic dust caused lung disease.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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