New York remembers September 11th
Ground Zero in Lower Manhattan filled up Monday morning as Americans gathered to commemorate the 16th anniversary of 9/11.
Visitors wore pictures of loved ones around their necks and tucked red roses and American flags into the engraved names on the bronze parapets surrounding the reflecting pools.
East Rutherford, NJ, resident James Taormina came to the site for the very first time to remember his brother, Dennis, a 36-year-old vice president of finance at Marsh & McLennan, who died in the North Tower that day.
“It feels like yesterday,” said Taormina, 39. “I woke up that morning to a phone call from my mother telling me the plane had hit the building and my brother was inside.
“I held hope for weeks until I saw a magazine that showed where the plane hit and I figured he was killed on impact.”
“I never liked driving in the city, but maybe there was a little emotional stress as well,” Taormina said about why he never came before. “It’s a little easier for me now.”
The ceremony at Ground Zero is marked by six moments of silence — to mark the times each plane hit the Twin Towers, to mark when each tower fell and to mark the attacks on the Pentagon and Flight 93.
The names of the nearly 3,000 victims of both the 9/11 and the 1993 World Trade Center attacks are also read.
The annual recitation included touching personal remembrances.
“I know you’re looking down at me with a big, big smile on your face,” said Connor Murphy while fighting back tears. He lost his father, Kevin James Murphy.
Magaly Lemagne broke down before collecting herself to read her brother’s name, David Prudencio Lemagne. She remembered the slain Port Authority and New Jersey police officer as “the embodiment of selflessness and bravery.”
“I hope today as we commemorate the 16th anniversary of 9/11, everyone will stop for a moment and remember all the people who gave their lives that day,” said Lemagne. “Maybe then we can put away our disagreements and become one country again.”
Young grandchildren of 9/11 victims also attended the ceremony, though they’d never gotten the chance to meet their lost relatives.
“I wish more than anything that I could have met you,” Ruth Daly said after reading the name of her late grandmother, Ruth Sheila Lapin. “I’m very proud to be your namesake. I hope you’re watching down on me from heaven.”
Dignitaries at the Manhattan event included Mayor Bill de Blasio, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Sen. Charles Schumer and former Mayor Mike Bloomberg.
President Trump and first lady Melania Trump somberly stepped out of the White House to observe a moment of silence at 8:46 a.m., when American Airlines Flight 11 struck the North Tower.
They bowed their heads with other staffers on the South Lawn as bells tolled and placed their hands over their hearts as taps was played.
The president will participate in a 9/11 observance at the Pentagon, where 184 people were killed when American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the building. Most were service members in the Army and Navy.
Trump, who was in New York during the terrorist attacks, spoke of the strength of America after 9/11 and gave thanks to our military.
“We shed our tears in their memory, pledged our devotion in their honor and turned our sorrow into unstoppable resolve to achieve justice in their name,” the president said of the 9/11 victims. “The terrorists who attacked us thought they could incite fear and weaken our spirit, but America cannot be intimidated, and those who try will soon join the long list of vanquished enemies who dare to test our mettle.”
Trump also praised the work of Sgt. Isaac Hoopii, who responded that day and rescued as many as 20 people when the Pentagon was struck.
“He sped to the scene and raced into smoke and fire — few people would’ve done it,” Trump said. “In the pitch black, he began calling out to people in need of help. Isaac heard faint voices and he wanted to answer those faint voices. One by one, he carried people out of the burning rubble.”
Vice President Mike Pence and US Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke delivered remarks at the Flight 93 National Memorial near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where passengers brought down the plane during a courageous revolt against the al Qaeda hijackers.
Bells tolled and names of the 33 passengers and seven crew members of United Flight 93 were read. On Sunday, ground was broken on the park’s final element — a 93-foot Tower of Voices with 40 tubular wind chimes, one for each victim. It is scheduled to be completed by next year’s anniversary.
*When do you remember learning about September 11th for the first time, Explain? What did you think and feel?
*What information in this article do you find most interesting? Explain your feelings about the article and what sticks out to you?
execelent
ReplyDeletei have learned about september 11 last year in history and i think is sad because a lot people died because of terrorism and those two planes were hacked, also i was 1 year old by that time and i feel so sad about this. i like the one about flight 93
ReplyDeleteI had learned about September 11 when I was like 8 years old. I used to go a school in Lakewood and they told me about it. I think is hard because a lot of people have died and and I also think that it must be hard for their family members that love them. I feel sad because if I was them it would've happen to me and I think my family would've cry. I was like 11 months old when it happens. Then when I came to Jersey I was like 8 years old and I went to a school in Lakewood and I had learned about it. To this day I've been thinking why it happen. The information in this article that I find more interesting is the flight 93 one. I think that that people should be alive and not dead because it was just a flight. But the terrorist people were In the plane. I think the terrorism need to stop immediately because they killing a lot of people they are hurting families. They are also destroying many buildings. It needs to stop
ReplyDeleteThe first time i learned about 9/11 was in elementary school. When i first found out what it was I really didn’t understand what happened. I finally understand probably when I was in 3rd or 4th grade, since my dad is a firefighter for Bayville, i learned more about it because it was a huge event that happened for 1st responders. Now in school since i'm getting older we learn more in detail about the events, before when we were younger we could not since we wouldn't understand it.
ReplyDeleteLearning about flight 93 is interesting because the passengers didn't want to be victims they wanted to try to help other people, so they fought back against the hijackers and crashed the plane in the middle of a field so no other important buildings will be attacked if they did not try to do that and sat back and be victims, who knows how much worse it could get if they decided to hit the white house
i love this man. its really nice. also its cool that your dad is a firefighter. firefighters to the rescueeeee.
Delete
ReplyDeleteI remember first learning about 9/11 when I was in 4th grade. Our teacher told us that some bad people knocked two buildings down because they were mad at us. At the time, nobody really understood why the terrorists did what they did. Once I started to understand what really happened I started to feel very anxious. Even at such a young age I started to not trust people other than my family. I remember thinking that all people were evil.
The part of the article that I find most interesting is that they recently broke ground on a 93 foot tower that will be a tribute to the passengers and attendants aboard flight 93. The article made me feel very grateful for my family and friends. I started to think about how people who actually lost family members in the attack must feel. Some people can never get over that tremendous loss. The thing that sticks out to me is the story about how the brother of one of the victims didn't like driving in the city. The other thing that caught my attention was the story about the sergeant who ran right into all of the debris to save people's lives. He carried people out of the smoke one by one.
DeleteYour response was very well written. It sucks that at such a young age you had trust issues. I agree with you that the Sergeant that ran in and out of the Pentagon to save people one by one stuck out.
The first time I remember learning about 9/11 is in 6th grade. My teacher talked about it for a few days and asked all her students to write an essay about it. She just wanted us to explain if we knew about it, knew someone that was involved in it or if we were even born by that day. I think that it was a good idea because we all just got to listen to everyone’s opinion about it. My feelings towards 9/11 is that it’s just crazy it all happened just like that and just upsetting that many of people’s family members couldn’t make it out. What i learned about it is that two planes were hijacked and many say it was caused by terrorism or that it was all an accident, I also learned that the president during that time, he was warned about it. I feel upset about it because many lost family members during that time and it's just hard for them even till this day. The information I find the most interesting in this article is that it states how maybe we can all put away our disagreements and become one country again. My feelings towards this article is that it's upsetting because it states that young grandchildren never even had the chance to meet their lost relatives. What sticks to me is how the ceremony at ground zero is marked by six moments of silence to mark the times the plane hit the twin towers, to mark when they fell and to mark attacks on the pentagon and flight 93.
ReplyDeleteI remember learning about 9/11 a long.. Long.. long.. Time ago. I remember learning about it in either kindergarten or first grade, but it was a terrible learning at a young age. Just having to see the planes crashing, people jumping out of buildings, and the fires were enough to see in pictures. It just was a disaster. This happening left me in shock, I am so disgusted and mind blown how someone can really do this. All the innocent people. All the lives they took on that day is just outrageous. “The ceremony at Ground Zero is marked by six moments of silence — to mark the times each plane hit the Twin Towers, to mark when each tower fell and to mark the attacks on the Pentagon and Flight 93.” and “The names of the nearly 3,000 victims of both the 9/11 and the 1993 World Trade Center attacks are also read.” are the most interesting things in this article because it shows and honors the remembrance of everyone who had lost their life during this tragic disaster that had happened.
ReplyDeleteI have learned about September 11 when i was in fourth grade. They taught me that 2 planes got hijacked by terrorist and hit The Twin Towers. Many people have died, the ones in the building and the firefighters. I thought like “why would people do that” and that is it really necessary to do something like that and i felt sad but at the same time i did not know what exactly happened. The thing that i found the most interesting was that the visitors wore pictures of their loved ones around their necks and tucked red roses and american flags into the engraved names on the bronze parapets. They still remember what happened and they never forget about it.
ReplyDeleteI learned about 911 when i was in 4th grade and i learned that terrorists highjacked the planes and crashed them into the twin towers, i didnt really know or get the importance of this, until now that im in highschool and get that many people lost their lives and or family members. I feel sad for the people who didnt know that, that day was going to be their last and that that was the last time they would see or hear from their family members ever again.
ReplyDeleteWhat i found interesting about the article was the part about the highjackers and their intentions like who is that sick in the head enough to take hundreds of lives in one day, truly devestating.
The first time I had ever heard and even learned about 9/11 was when I was in 5th grade in miss robinson's class on that fateful when i finally was told i didn’t know what to think about because I had never heard of it but over time it sink in and then I got the real fear factor of how everybody else was feeling on the day of the terroristic attack.That afternoon when I came home my parents sat me down and told me to watch the tv.There was a documentary and I said too my parents that I was talking about this in my history class,but as the documentary went on I started to get very sad and I looked away and when I turned my head BOOM I saw the second plane crash into the South tower and it was so surreal I couldn’t believe that this actually happened and then I felt a tear rolling down my cheek and I just sat their and watched in horror like it was something out of a movie.After it was over I jumped into my mom’s arms because this scared me now looking back at what happened my mom use to work in an casino as a secretary and those have a lot of people and a lot of money there too so if they wanted too they could have there they could have hit anywhere in the United States.That day was a true horror but it also united the United States there was boats that were getting people out of Manhattan and bringing them to New Jersey and for me to think how close those planes were too New Jersey is very frightening to me I hope we can prevent any other acts like this in the US.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDelete9/11 was a planned terrorist attack in New York City. Two planes had crashed into the World Trade Center. The terrorists were apart of a group named Al Qaeda led by Osama Bin Laden. He and many other muslims decided to get on planes as normal people, then once they were on they stormed the cockpit and took out the pilots. During this act, many of the Al Qaeda members stabbed passengers that tried to stop it or tried to call for help. They sprayed pepper spray to make the passengers back up. Once the men got into the cockpit, they made an announcement about staying quiet and nothing bad will happen to them. They also said that they were landing at the airport. This was happening on three other flights. Around 8:40 to 9:00, the planes had crashed into the twin towers.
I remember learning about September 11th in about 7th or 8th grade. We didn’t go over it like we do now, but it was talked about. We did worksheets on them and had large discussions on the topic and a project or two. We watched a lot of documentaries on it, too. As I learned about it, I thought this was crazy. I also didn’t really know much because I was just born. Watching videos on how many people died and the planes crashing into these buildings were scary. Sometimes I would actually look them up myself because I was interested in learning about it.
What stuck out to me was the fact that every single person that has died in this attack, as written on reflecting pools. People that have shared the names with these people to put it on there in remembrance is really thoughtful. Reading this article was actually saddening because of all of the families that were left with a missing husband, wife, mom, dad, child, or sibling. Some friends or colleagues were lost, too. Not to mention the hard working firefighters or policemen.
i agree on your statement with saying you remember learning around middle school tears. during my middle school years they were short discussions about 9/11 and now we go into elaborate discussion about 9/11. I thought it was interesting as well that i have done my own research. thank you for sharing also it was sad to me!
DeleteThe first time I remember learning about September 11th was in elementary school. We weren’t told much about it like how we learn about today. We were just told that some terrible people had hit the towers with a plane and a lot of people died. I also remember my mom telling me that on that day she was doing laundry at the time it had happened and then her mom had called her to tell her to turn on the news, then later that day my mom was emitted into the hospital because she had gone into labor with me.I felt saddened by this and all i could think was how can people just steal a plane and hit the towers and kill thousands of people.
ReplyDeleteThere were many parts of this article that were interesting. Except the one i found most interesting was the memorial they’re making in Pennsylvania for flight 93. My feelings towards this article are mixed. I feel grateful for still having my family especially cause at the time this happened my father was a firefighter and he could have been there but he wasn’t. I also feel sorry for all the people who have lost someone that day. The parts that stick out is the man who couldn’t bare to step foot into the city because he lost his brother. It just goes to show how terribly this has affected people.
I think that your blog was very well written. I liked one you talked about How crazy it is the people can just steal planes. I completely agree with everything you said.
DeleteThe first time i remember learning about 9/11 is in 8th grade. Well i learned before then but that's the only time i actually remember. I thought 9/11 was a real shitty thing. It made me wonder why people are so violent. What kind of person can kill many people and think its okay. I was only 1 when it happened so i don't recall anything on that day and i only know things i heard and read. But 9/11 is a sad event.
ReplyDeleteI thought the most interesting thing was during the ceremony there were 6 moment of silence for the ones that passed during the collapsing of the twin tower due to the plane attacking , another for the crashing of flight 93 and also the crashing on the pentagon. I just wanna say i am very thankful i didn't have to go through the pain that many others had to go through. I do feel bad for who has lost friends and family.i am very thankful for for my friends who are still alive and those that passed. I ran out of thoughts and i needed like 30 more words so thank you have a great one.
I only really remember learning about it in middle school too. I agree with the fact that how people can kill others without feeling any guilt or for, like you said, thinking it's okay. I was also pretty much just born around that time so I don't remember anything or didn't even know anything. I'm very thankful as well because we didn't have to suffer with the commotion and the heartbreak.
Delete