Recovery work halted and tears flowed at New York's "Ground Zero" on Sunday as thousands of grieving family members gathered for a memorial service at the site of the fallen World Trade Center towers.
Thousands of mourners, some holding photographs of their loved ones, rose from their plastic chairs Sunday as Police Officer Daniel Rodriguez opened the service with The Star-Spangled Banner. Cardinal Edward Egan delivered the invocation, standing at a podium draped in black.
PHOTO: AFP
"They were innocent and they were brutally, viciously, unjustly taken from us," said Egan, the leader of New York's Roman Catholic archdiocese. He called them "strong and dedicated citizens" who were "executives and office workers, managers and laborers."
PHOTO: REUTERS
"We are in mourning, Lord. We have hardly any tears left to shed," he said.
Police said 9,200 people attended the service, held for family members only.
"My daughter is out there some place," said Cathy Mazzotta, mother of 23-year-old Jennifer Mazzotta who worked for Cantor Fitzgerald on the 101st floor of Tower One. "This is the last place she's been, so it makes me feel good."
Acclaimed tenor Andrea Bocelli brought tears to many people's eyes with his rendition of Ave Maria, as did violinist Ilya Gringolts as he played a traditional Yiddish piece called Raisins and Almonds, and the Metropolitan Opera's Renee Fleming as she sang God Bless America.
The ruins of buildings still standing around the site formed a haunting backdrop, with their blackened walls and violently mangled girders providing a jarring contrast to the soft music and prayers designed to comfort the mourners.
"We come here today to hold those who hurt so much, to help those who need so much and to heal those who cry so much," said Rabbi Joseph Potasnik, a New York Fire Department chaplain.
"Guide us to better days," said Imam Izak-El Mu'eed Pasha, a police chaplain. "In pursuit of justice, let us not hate. ... Let us be the best human beings we can be, and not let those who would do these things turn us against one another."
At the service, few people seemed able to keep their composure, and a handful of mourners, visibly distraught, had to be led away.
Afterward, mourners took flowers from the stage and handed them to firefighters, who placed the purple and yellow blooms on top of the heaps of rubble. The firefighters then placed bits of the rubble in the outstretched hands of the mourners.
At a private ceremony later, relatives were presented with wooden urns containing ashes from the trade center. Given that fewer than 500 bodies have been identified, for many the urns would be the only remnant they would have to bury.
Pat Hannafin, who attended the service in memory of his brother Tom, a firefighter, said it had been a comfort when his brother's body was found and could be buried a few days later.
"That's the only consolation," he said. "I don't know how the other families are going through it."
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