Clutching photos to their hearts and blowing kisses to the sky, tearful loved ones of Sept. 11, 2001, victims recited a three-hour litany of the lost, the names echoing across an expanse still largely barren five years after terrorists destroyed the World Trade Center.
At the Pentagon, on a wind-swept Pennsylvania field, in quiet moments in airport security lines, at churches or by themselves, people in the US paused to reflect on the worst terrorist act on US soil.
The centerpiece of the commemorations was the mostly barren 6.4-hectare expanse at ground zero, where four moments of silence were observed to mark the precise times jetliners crashed into the twin towers and the skyscrapers crumbled to the ground.
The achingly familiar task of reading the names of the 2,749 trade center victims fell this year to their husbands, wives and partners, who personalized the roll call with heartbreaking tributes.
"If I could build a staircase to heaven, I would, just so I could quickly run up there to have you back in my arms," said Carmen Suarez, wife of New York City police officer Ramon Suarez, killed five years ago at the World Trade Center.
Linda Litto, who lost her husband, said: "As I said 31 years ago tomorrow, I will love you and honor you all the days of our life. Happy anniversary, my love."
On a crisp, sunny day not unlike the morning of the attacks, family members descended into the pit 21m below ground where the twin towers stood, tearfully laying wreaths and roses in the footprints of the fallen skyscrapers.
The mournful sound of bagpipes, so familiar from the seemingly endless funerals that followed Sept. 11, echoed across ground zero after a choir performed the national anthem.
The ritual has changed little since the first anniversary of the attacks, and in many ways the site has remained the same as well.
Squabbles over design and security have caused long delays in the rebuilding project. Only this year did construction start on a Sept. 11 memorial and the 533m Freedom Tower, which is not expected to be finished for five more years. After sundown, officials turned on a memorial light display near the site, sending beams of blue light skyward in a silhouette of the twin towers.
US President George W. Bush laid a wreath at the Shanksville, Pennsylvania, field where United Flight 93 crashed, and privately greeted relatives of the 40 people killed there. Standing without umbrellas in a cold rain, he and first lady Laura Bush bowed their heads for a prayer and the singing of Amazing Grace.
"One moment, ordinary citizens, and the next, heroes forever," retired General Tommy Franks said, alluding to the Flight 93 passengers who apparently fought the hijackers and forced them to crash the plane into the ground.
"We mourn their loss, to be sure, but we also celebrate their victory here in the first battle on terrorism," he said.
In a prime-time White House address later on Monday, Bush characterized the war against terrorism as a "struggle for civilization" that requires a determined effort by a unified country.
RSS