US News

Obama, officials honor victims of Boston Marathon terror attack at interfaith service

A running shoe and US flag are part of a memorial on the Boston Marathon route.

A running shoe and US flag are part of a memorial on the Boston Marathon route. (AFP/Getty Images)

A young boy holds a Boston Marathon Medal with black tape, signifying mourning, as he and his father stand near the Cathedral of the Holy Cross today.

A young boy holds a Boston Marathon Medal with black tape, signifying mourning, as he and his father stand near the Cathedral of the Holy Cross today. (AFP/Getty Images)

Mourners attend a candlelight vigil yesterday in the aftermath of Monday's Boston Marathon explosions, which killed at least three and injured more than 140.

Mourners attend a candlelight vigil yesterday in the aftermath of Monday’s Boston Marathon explosions, which killed at least three and injured more than 140. (AP)

President Obama delivered a powerful eulogy for Boston Marathon bombing victims today and told terrorists “they picked the wrong city” to try to break American resolve.

Obama addressed an interfaith service in the aftermath of Monday’s twin blasts that killed three and injured more 170 people at the finish line of the Boston Marathon.

Speaking to civic leaders and loved ones of victims at the grand Cathedral of the Holy Cross, Obama brought mourners to their feet with his vow to catch the terrorists and help heal the wounded.

“Every one of us stands with you.”

“You [the wounded] will run again because that’s what the people of Boston are made of. Your resolve is the greatest rebuke to whoever committed this heinous act,” Obama said.

“If they sought to intimidate us, to terrorize us, to shake us from those values … it should be pretty clear by now they picked the wrong city to do it. Not here in Boston. Not here in Boston.”

About 2,000 mourners filled the historic cathedral and home to Boston’s Catholic church.

The president, a 1991 graduate of Harvard Law School, referred to his years in Beantown to explain his sorrow over Monday’s deadly attack.

“There’s a piece of Boston in me. You welcomed me as a young law student across the river,” he said. “You welcomed me during a convention (2004 in Boston) when I was still a state senator and very few people could pronounce my name right.”

Obama borrowed a lyric from Boston’s unofficial anthem, “Dirty Water,” and pronounced that Boston was his home.

“Like you in this moment of grief, we join you in saying, ‘Boston you’re my home,’ ” Obama said, “For millions of us, what happened on Monday was personal. It’s personal.”

The president leaned liberally on metaphors, comparing life to a marathon.

“Scripture tells us to run with endurance the race that is set before us – run with endurance, race that is set before us. On Monday morning the sun rose over Boston,” he said.

“It was a beautiful day to be in Boston … and then in an instant, the day’s beauty was shattered. The celebration became a tragedy.”

Obama made sure mention each of the three killed.

— “Our hearts are broken for 8-year-old Martin with his big smile and and bright eyes,” he said of 8-year-old Martin Richard.

“His last hours were as perfect as an 8-year-old boy could hope for – with his family eating ice cream at a sporting event. And we’re left with two enduring images of this little boy, forever smiling for his beloved Bruins and forever expressing a wish he made on a blue poster board: ‘No more hurting people. Peace. No more hurting people. Peace.’ ”

— On 23-year-old Boston University grad student Lu Lingzi, 23, Obama said: “She was a 23-year-old student far from home. And in the heartache of her family and friends on both sides of the great ocean, we’re reminded of the humanity that we all share.”

— On 29-year-old restaurant manager Krystal Campbell, the president said: “She was beautiful, sometimes she could be a little noisy and everybody loved her for it. She would have turned 30 next month. As her mother said, through her tears, `This doesn’t make any sense.’ ”

Obama entered the cathedral and a choir sang “Amazing Grace.” He left after singers delivered “America the Beautiful.”

Of the perpetrator, he said: “We will find you.”

Earlier, Boston’s iconic mayor delivered a message of strength and love to honor the victims.

Mayor Thomas Menino said today that “nothing can tear down the resilience of this city and its people.”

“Since the clock struck that fateful hour, love has covered this resilient city. I have never loved it more than I do today.

TWO MEN PROBED IN MARATHON BOMBING CLEARED BY INVESTIGATORS

“Boston’s finest carried kids to safety and calmed a city in crisis. We love the National Guard and service members who brought valor to our streets.”

Menino cited hearing “Sweet Caroline” being played at Yankee Stadium and seeing Boston’s flag flying in lower Manhattan as giving a sense of “strength” to the city.

“Nothing can defeat the heart of this city…this is Boston — a city with courage, compassion and strength that knows no bounds.”

Each of the speakers at this morning’s interfaith memorial, hammered home their belief that Bostonians will be undeterred by the twin bombings that killed three and wounded 176.

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick said his lasting memory will be of first responders and bystanders who sought immediately reached out to the injured.

“So we will recover and repair. We will grieve our losses and heal. We will rise and we will endure,” he said.

“We will remember, I hope and pray … that the grace this tragedy exposed is the best of who we are.”

Cardinal Sean Patrick O’Malley wore a brown habit to today’s service, in a nod to his Capuchin Franciscan order and its embrace of the poor.

“We must overcome the culture of death by promoting a culture of life – of profound respect for each and every human being, made in the likeness of God,” O’Malley said. “We must cultivate the desire to give our lives in the service of others.”

People started lining up before dawn Thursday with the hopes of attending an interfaith service to remember the victims of the Boston Marathon bombings.

The event was open to the public on a first-come, first-seated basis. People started lining up before 5 a.m. even though doors opened at 8 a.m. The line stretched at least two city blocks.

A heavy police presence surrounded the cathedral in the city’s South End. Nearby streets were closed to vehicles.

Someone outside held a green flag with the words “forgiveness” and “peace” on it.

“I’m excited to be a witness to healing and grace and peace,” Wendy Vanderhart, of Arlington, associate conference minister in the United Church of Christ congregation, said as she waited to get inside the roughly 2,000-seat cathedral.

The service includes reflections by representatives of Protestant denominations, the Jewish, Muslim, and Greek Orthodox faiths and Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley.

The president, Gov. Deval Patrick and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino are also scheduled to speak. Cellist Yo-Yo Ma is scheduled to perform.

Not everyone who showed up was able to grab a seat.

Eli Philips, 18, a student at Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences and a marathon volunteer, was turned away. Philips, still wearing his volunteer jacket, said he worked at the start and finish lines of the marathon but had left the finish line area by the time the bombs exploded.

Ricky Hall, 67, of Cambridge, showed up at 8 a.m. but was turned away from the line.

“I came to pay my respects to the victims,” he said, adding he was still angry that someone would desecrate the marathon and urging maximum punishment for the perpetrator.

Meanwhile, Boston radio stations are planning to go silent for one minute next Monday to honor the victims and heroes of the race bombing.

The National Association of Broadcasters says stations owned by CBS Radio, Clear Channel Media and Entertainment, Entercom and Greater Media will participate in the tribute. It is planned for 2:50 p.m., exactly one week from when the two bombs exploded near the finish line of the marathon, killing three people and wounding more than 170.

Association President Gordon Smith says the stations served as first informers after the blast and want to salute the first responders and others who “do so much during emergency situations.”

With AP