By: Chaka Ferguson
Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) - As night fell on a mourning nation,
twin towers of white light beamed brighter into the sky
above ground zero, capping the emotional second
anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. "Tribute in Light"
returned after a 17 month hiatus Thursday night, a ghostly
reminder of the day hijacked jetliners slammed into the
World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania,
killing more than 3,000 people in the worst terrorist
attack in U.S. history.
"It makes you look skyward," Melannie Dunn, 34, of
Manhattan, said as she gazed at the tribute. "There is
something hopeful about directing your thoughts upward."
The lights in Battery Park City concluded a national day
of mourning, from Staten Island to the White House,
from Massachusetts to Hawaii, as more than 3,000 victims
were remembered. In New York, 200 children led the
mourning, showing extraordinary poise as they read the
enormous list of victims for 2 1/2 hours.
Outside the White House, President Bush and his staff
stood silently on the South Lawn at 8:46 a.m. the moment
of impact of the first hijacked plane. Vice President Dick Cheney
attended a memorial at the Riverside Church in Manhattan
for 84 workers of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey,
owner of the trade center complex.
The ceremonies came as the federal government warned
of possible al-Qaida attacks against Americans overseas
in connection with the anniversary, but the day passed
without incident. A videotape of Osama bin Laden emerged
a day earlier, but U.S. officials sought to downplay its relevance
The lower Manhattan memorial lights were first sent into
the sky on March 11, 2002, to mark six months since the
terrorist attack that claimed 2,792 victims and brought
down the twin 110-story towers. Each year on the anniversary
of the attack, the lights - symbols of the felled skyscrapers
will go on for one day.
"It will get very emotional as the night gets darker and the
lights get brighter ... and it shows that we will never forget,
" Gov. George Pataki said after watching the lights rise
into the sky at dusk Thursday.
In Washington, a moment of silence was observed at the
Pentagon at 9:37 a.m. for the 184 victims killed by the plane
crash there. And at an isolated field near Shanksville, Pa.,
bells tolled for the 40 people killed aboard United Airlines Flight 93.
On Thursday morning, thousands of mourners filled the pit
where the trade center once stood. Two by two, young relatives
of the victims stepped to the microphone - sons and daughters,
nieces and nephews, grandsons and granddaughters.
The 200 children mournfully recited the names of the
World Trade Center dead, each ending with a salute to a
slain relative.
"Our father, James Patrick Berger," said his sons, 8-year-old
Alexander and 10-year-old Nicholas, their small voices
suddenly immense as they echoed across ground zero.
The families appeared in various sad permutations:
New York Police Department Sgt. Michael Curtin was
represented by his three daughters, Jennifer, 17, Erica, 15,
and Heather, 13. Kristen Canillas, 12, stood alongside
8-year-old Christopher Cardinali; both had lost a grandparent.
"I love you, and I miss you," Kristen said after invoking the
name of her grandfather, Anthony Luparello.
The readers offered poignant messages to their lost relatives,
their emotions laid bare before a crowd that held aloft pictures
of the victims, dabbed tears from their eyes and laid flowers in
temporary reflecting pools representing the towers.
The two years since the attack seemed to disappear as
speakers surrendered to their emotions.
"My daddy, Gerard Rod Coppola," said Angela Coppola,
20, her voice cracking. "Your light still shines."
The footprint of the trade center's north tower was outlined by
a 4-foot fence draped with banners bearing drawings and
messages painted by children of the victims.
"I remember riding on daddy's shoulders," read the message from
4-year-old Maggie Murphy, written between a picture of flowers
and the two towers.
In many ways, this year's anniversary was reminiscent of the first:
Family members gathered at ground zero; Cantor Fitzgerald
workers gathered in Central Park to remember their 658 dead
co-workers; the Port Authority held a memorial for its 84 lost employees.
"It's the same," said Betsy Parks, of Bayonne, N.J., standing
near the ground zero site where her brother, Robert Parks,
died two years ago. "The hurt is enormous."
Others felt that the anniversary was more difficult this time
around, despite the passage of time.
"Last year, you had more anger at what happened," said
Candace Pankanin, whose brothers-in-law, Tim and
John Grazioso, were traders with Cantor Fitzgerald.
"Now the reality is here that they are not coming back."
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