Beneath a slate-gray sky heavy with rain, relatives of those killed in the World Trade Center gathered yesterday to mark the anniversary of 9/11 — the pain and torment of that day still vivid for them after eight years.
In what has become an annual ritual of grief, hundreds gathered within the pit that remains where the towers once stood. The crowd listened to a reading of the names of the nearly 3,000 people killed when terrorists slammed planes into the buildings, causing them to collapse.
“Throughout the year, I always feel I’m going fine, but as soon as 9/11 comes around, I feel like I’m back to square one,” said Irene Smith, who lost her son Leon, a firefighter at Ladder Co. 118 in Brooklyn Heights. “I feel like it was just like yesterday. The families will never forget — rain, hail, shine, whatever.”
Joined by Vice President Joe Biden, Gov. Paterson and Mayor Bloomberg, relatives laid flowers at a temporary reflecting pool and got their first glimpse at the partially built memorial plaza that officials vow will be ready by the 10th anniversary in 2011.
In Washington, President Obama — observing his first Sept. 11 in the White House — signed a decree declaring it a day of remembrance.
“Let us renew our resolve against those who perpetrated this barbaric act and who plot against us still,” he said at a service for those killed at the Pentagon. “In defense of our nation, we will never waver.”
In Shanksville, Pa., bells tolled for the 40 victims killed there when the fourth hijacked airplane crashed.
“In place of fear . . . they found courage to act,” former Secretary of State Colin Powell said of the passengers who fought back against the terrorists and sealed their fate.
The day began with a traditional moment of silence at 8:46 a.m. — the exact time when terrorists slammed the first plane into the World Trade Center. It was followed in New York, by three more — at 9:03, 9:59 and 10:29 — marking the times of the second plane crash and the collapse of each of the towers.
With the years ticking away, many relatives have become enraged at the slow pace of building a memorial.
“When I see all these buildings built around the trade center, it’s frustrating that the memorial hasn’t been built,’ said Kevin Timson, whose brother-in-law, Andrew Fisher, died that day. “Politicians should not get in the way of it. We have to move forward with this.”
Across the street from Ground Zero, at FDNY Ladder 10/Engine 10, firefighter John Morabito — who survived but lost six firehouse comrades that day — said it pains him when tourists ask where the memorial is and he has to tell them there isn’t one.
Morabito said it is embarrassing that something hasn’t been built to remember the victims who worked in the towers.
“The civilians that were lost should have a memorial. There is a World Trade Center memorial in England, New Zealand, but not in New York,” he said. “It is embarrassing.”
Even so, he said, being across the street from the site where 343 firefighters were killed was a constant reminder of the horrors of that day.
“It’s still fresh in my mind,” he said. “It’s very difficult to speak about it. The pain goes on, but we won’t let people forget the memory of the firefighters lost. I am a living memorial. ”
Guy Sanders, an EMS trainer at Bronx Lebanon Hospital who lost two co-workers in the attack, said he worries that as more time went by without a proper memorial, people would begin to forget about what had happened.
“This weather is symbolic of the fact that we are looking at a hole in the ground,” he said. “All the camaraderie seems to have been lost. There are forces bigger than ours that are frustrated and angry just like the rest of us are that the memorial has not been built. I’ve seen less and less people coming here every year.”
But Gary Guja, who lost his twin brother Jeff, remained optimistic.
“It is still hard when I hear them read his name. It means a lot to the kids to be able to come here,” he said. “And we are hopeful the memorial will be done by the 10-year anniversary.” With Post Wire Services