Tears unite Americans on 10th anniversary of 9/11

Tears flowed and bells tolled at Ground Zero yesterday as Americans marked the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in a rare moment of unity for a country still shaken by the horrific attacks.

President Barack Obama and his predecessor and political foe George W. Bush stood together in New York for the main ceremony at the site of the destroyed Twin Towers.

Mr Obama then flew to the crash site of Flight 93 in Pennsylvania, where he laid a wreath ahead of his next stop at the Pentagon.

At Ground Zero, the Stars and Stripes fluttered from cranes used in the massive project to rebuild the World Trade Centre, while below relatives of 9/11’s 2,977 victims brushed fingertips across the names of their loved ones etched in bronze around a new memorial.

With federal officials warning of a new terrorism scare, lower Manhattan was under police lockdown. Security in other major cities was also tight, as Mr Obama called for a “heightened state of vigilance.”

The ceremony began in New York with a procession of bagpipers and singing of the national anthem, before a bell signalled the first of six moments of silence marking the times when the four hijacked airplanes hit their targets and the Twin Towers collapsed.

The sky over the Big Apple was initially clear, recalling the brilliant backdrop to the horrific surprise attack on the World Trade Centre, where 2,753 of the day’s victims, including 343 firefighters, died in the inferno of collapsing skyscrapers.

As every year since September 11, 2001, relatives of the dead took turns reading out the names, a heartbreaking litany accompanied by virtuoso cellist Yo-Yo Ma.

Readers fought to keep emotions in check as they pronounced loved ones’ names. “I’ve stopped crying, but I haven’t stopped missing my dad. He was awesome,” one young man said.

“From the depth of my soul,” a sobbing woman called out to her deceased husband, “we will always miss you.”

Reflecting a growing sense that it is time to turn a corner from 9/11, the Ground Zero ritual this time was accompanied by signs of optimism.

Instead of the chaotic-looking construction site and vast pit that scarred lower Manhattan for years, the ceremony now features a gleaming, three-quarter-built One World Trade Centre tower and other signs of progress.

Yesterday also saw the dedication of a simple, but moving monument consisting of massive fountains sunk into the footprints of the former towers, with the names of the dead inscribed around the edges.

But the focus was on the victims and their families. Several of those reading the names were children, who paid emotional tribute to their lost parents and other relatives.

After reading out several names, two young boys said “We love you Dad” in unison, then kissed their fingers and thrust them toward the heavens.

Peter Negron was 11 when his father perished in the World Trade Center. He told mourners how he’s tried to teach his brother “all the things my father taught me: how to catch a baseball, how to ride a bike and to work hard in school.”

Mr Negron is now a young man, but it’s clear the hole in his life is as wide as the memorial itself.

“I wish my dad had been there to teach me how to drive, ask a girl out on a date, and see me graduate from high school and 100 other things I can’t even begin to name,” he said.

The President, who also declared “Al-Qaeda is on the path to defeat,” then flew to Shanksville, Pennsylvania, site of the crash of Flight 93.

The 40 victims of that hijacking have often been overlooked in the bigger dramas of the strikes on the Pentagon and the Twin Towers. But they were remembered yesterday as heroes for overpowering their assailants, crashing the plane before its apparent target of nearby Washington, DC.

The president and his wife Michelle laid a wreath of white flowers at a new marble memorial at the site.

“The passengers on Flight 93 charted a new course, set a new standard for American bravery,” Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett said.

“Their uprising marked the moment in history when Americans showed what makes us different. We know there are things more important than our own lives – chief among them, freedom.”

The 9/11 remembrances unite Americans like almost no other event.

According to a poll last week, 97 per cent of people remember where they were when they heard the news, on a par with John F. Kennedy’s assassination.