Sept. 11 marked with reading of nearly 3,000 names

The names of the Sept. 11 dead, some recited by children barely old enough to remember their fallen mothers and fathers, echoed across ground zero Sunday in a haunting but hopeful tribute on the 10th anniversary of the terror attack. "Hope can grow from tragedy," Vice President Joe Biden said at the Pentagon.

Weeping relatives of the victims streamed into a newly opened memorial at the spot where the World Trade Center stood. They placed pictures and flowers beside names etched in bronze, and traced them with pencil and paper. President Barack Obama and his predecessor, George W. Bush, bowed their heads and touched the inscriptions.

Obama, standing behind bulletproof glass and in front of the white oak trees of the memorial, read a Bible passage after a moment of silence at 8:46 a.m., when the first jetliner slammed into the north tower 10 years ago.

The president, quoting Psalm 46, invoked the presence of God as an inspiration to endure: "Therefore, we will not fear, even though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea."

The New York ceremony was the centerpiece of a day of remembrance across the country. It was a chance to reflect on a decade that changed American life, including two wars and an overhaul of everyday security at airports and in big cities.

In a commemoration at the Pentagon, Biden paid tribute to "the 9/11 generation of warriors."

"Never before in our history has America asked so much over such a sustained period of an all-volunteer force," he said. "So I can say without fear of contradiction or being accused of exaggeration, the 9/11 generation ranks among the greatest our nation has ever produced, and it was born — it was born — it was born right here on 9/11."

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta observed a moment of silence at 9:37 a.m., marking the time a jet struck the headquarters of the nation's military. He paid tribute to 6,200 members of the U.S. military who have died in the Iraq and Afghan wars.

In Shanksville, Pa., a choir sang at the Flight 93 National Memorial, and a crowd of 5,000 listened to a reading of the names of 40 passengers and crew killed aboard the fourth jetliner hijacked that day a decade ago. Obama and his wife traveled to the Pennsylvania town after their visit to New York and placed a wreath at the memorial.

During the president's visit, members of the crowd chanted, "USA! USA!" One man called out: "Thanks for getting bin Laden!" This is the first anniversary observance since Osama bin Laden was killed by U.S. forces in Pakistan.

The day's events took place under higher security than usual. In New York and Washington especially, authorities were on alert. Ahead of the anniversary, the federal government warned those cities of a tip about a possible car-bomb plot. Police searched trucks in New York, and streets near the trade center were blocked. To walk within blocks of the site, people had to go through checkpoints.

In New York, family members read aloud the names of 2,983 victims — 2,977 killed in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania on Sept. 11, 2001, and six killed in the first terror attack on the trade center, a truck bomb in 1993.

"You will always be my hero," Patricia Smith, 12, said of her mother.
Nicholas Gorki remembered his father, "who I never met because I was in my mother's belly. I love you, Father. You gave me the gift of life, and I wish you could be here to enjoy it with me."
Alex Zangrilli said: "Dad, I wish you were here with me to give me advice, to be on the sidelines when I play sports like all the other dads. ... I wish we had more time together."

Peter Negron, 21, whose father worked on the 88th floor of the north tower, said that in the decade since the attack, he had tried to teach his younger brother lessons he had learned from their father.

"I decided to become a forensic scientist," Negron said. "I hope that I can make my father proud of the young men my brother and I have become. I miss you so much, Dad."

Cellist Yo-Yo Ma played a mournful Bach composition. James Taylor sang the melancholy "Close Your Eyes," and Paul Simon strummed a raw version of "The Sound of Silence."

Bush quoted a letter from Abraham Lincoln to a mother who was believed to have lost five sons in battle during the Civil War: "I pray that our heavenly father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement."
Obama and Bush were joined by their wives as they walked up to one of the two reflecting pools built over the towers' footprints, part of the Sept. 11 memorial that was opened to relatives of the victims.

Some family members held children on their backs who were not yet born when the towers were attacked.

As the sun rose, an American flag fluttered over six stories of the rising 1 World Trade Center. The sky was clear blue with scattered white clouds and a light breeze, not unlike that Tuesday morning 10 years ago.

But by the time a moment of silence was observed at 9:59 a.m. to mark the moment when the first tower fell, thick clouds had moved over the sun, and it remained overcast well into the afternoon.

The site looked utterly different than it had for any other Sept. 11 anniversary: Along with the names in bronze, there were two manmade waterfalls directly on the footprints of the towers, surrounded by dozens of white oak trees.
Many of the victims' loved ones left flowers at the memorial. Some stuck small flags in the recesses created by each letter. Some just stood and wept.

Mary Dwyer, 36, of Brooklyn, said it was moving to finally be able to stand in the place where her sister, Lucy Fishman, died. "It's the closest I'll ever get to her again," she said.

Just seeing the names etched in stone was a powerful experience for many.
"It breaks me up," said David Martinez, who lost a cousin and a brother in the twin towers.

In a taped interview, the president told NBC that the United States "came through this thing in a way that was consistent with our character."

"We've made mistakes. Some things haven't happened as quickly as they needed to," he said. "But overall, we took the fight to al-Qaida, we preserved our values, we preserved our character."

People across America gathered to pray at cathedrals in their greatest cities and to lay roses before fire stations in their smallest towns.More...