world trade center attack

Remembering the Horror of a Bright Blue Morning

Eight years ago, hijacked passenger jets destroyed the World Trade Center. The ritual of commemorating this, the bloodiest foreign attack on United States soil, will be repeated on Friday near the pit where the Twin Towers once stood. Silence will solemnize the moments when the buildings were struck and the moments when they fell; politicians and family members of victims will offer words of grief and inspiration; and the official list of victims will be read, name by name, 2,752 in total, one more than last year.

The day could not be more different than Sept. 11, 2001: It is rainy and gray, with whipping winds. The ceremony will begin at 8:40 a.m. and is scheduled to conclude around 12:30 p.m. City Room will live blog the ceremony: check back here for updates throughout the morning.

Updated, 9:36 a.m. | The huge construction cranes that loom behind the ceremony stage, testaments to the advancing construction of the new World Trade Center site, are not the only reminders of how long eight years can be. While the event has a certain somber rhythm — and some of the speakers have choked up at the names of their lost loved ones — it seems absent of some of the deep overarching emotion of previous years. The crowd has really thinned out; more than half the journalists appear to have left. A smattering of journalists and family members are chatting as the names are read.

Updated, 9:30 a.m. | One of the speakers urges support for responders who survived the attacks but have health problems as a result of exposure to the toxic dust clouds. “They were here for our country, and now it’s time for our country to be here for them,” she says, to applause.

Updated, 9:20 a.m. | The rain is really coming down. The Red Cross handed out clear plastic ponchos when people arrived, but many people are already soaked through, including a handful who appear to have forgotten umbrellas. Some people are leaving, perhaps family members who have already heard their loved ones’ names called. The names have reached the letter C. A man who lost his son declares: “This is not the rain. This is tears.”

Updated, 9:10 a.m. | Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. addresses the crowd, quoting the poet Mary Oliver. “Meanwhile the world goes on,” he exclaims. The reading of names soon resumes.

Updated, 9:05 a.m. | The reading of the names, which is being accompanied by flute and cello music, pauses for a moment of silence to observe the moment when United Flight 175 hit the south tower.

Updated, 8:55 a.m. | The reading of names begins with Gordon M.Aamoth Jr. an investment banker at Sandler O’Neill & Partners, who went by the nickname Gordy.

This year they are being read by family members and, fitting with the theme of the Sept. 11 national day of service declared by President Obama, volunteers.

Updated, 8:54 a.m. | The crowd was addressed by Jay Winuk, whose younger brother Glenn Winuk was a prominent Manhattan lawyer and volunteer firefighter last seen running toward the towers from his office nearby, “toward the inferno and the people in danger.”

“My little brother is my greatest hero, not just for the way he died but for the way he lived,” Mr. Winuk said.

Updated, 8:46 a.m. | Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg asked the crowd for a moment of silence to commemorate the moment American Airlines Flight 11 hit the north tower of the World Trade Center.

Updated, 8:42 a.m. | The tattered American flag that had flown over the World Trade Center and survived the attack has been carried to the stage. Members of the Brooklyn Youth Chorus are singing the national anthem.

Updated, 8:30 a.m. | For the third consecutive year, the commemoration ceremony is being held at Zuccotti Park, a small patch of land adjacent to ground zero that is shaded by 54 honey locust trees. While the ceremony was initially held at ground zero, it was displaced because of efforts to redevelop the site.

Family members — some of whom were initially upset about the change in venue will visit ground zero after the ceremony.

Family members and journalists have already filled much of the park with a sea of umbrellas. The weather continues to be terrible, with gusting winds driving a light rain.

More details: http://earncommentsadsense.blogspot.com/2009/09/september-11.html