Families Remember

AP: Families Mark 9/11 With Solemn Remembrance---

NEW YORK - Weeping relatives marked the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attack Sunday with prayers, solemn remembrances and heartfelt messages to their dead brothers and sisters at the site where the World Trade Center collapsed in a nightmarish cloud of dust and debris four years ago.

In a ceremony lasting longer than four hours, more than 600 relatives read the names of the 2,749 victims who died at the trade center. Several blew kisses to the sky after reading a loved one's name, while others left the microphone sobbing. Several held up photos of their loved ones.
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In New Orleans, New York firefighters helping with the relief effort gathered around a makeshift memorial for their fallen comrades, accepting the gift of a bell from a nearby church whose steeple was destroyed in the storm. Rescue workers in Biloxi, Miss., took a break from searching for the storm's missing to remember those who died on Sept. 11.

For the local emergency workers, honoring their New York comrades while dealing with their own destruction was particularly important. "Now we can relate," said Deputy Biloxi Fire Chief Kirk Noffsinger.
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As the names were read, weeping mourners filed down a ramp to a reflecting memorial pool at the floor of the site, which remains virtually empty four years after the attack. Families filled the water with red, orange and yellow roses, some shaking as they inscribed dedications on the wooden edge of the pool.

The ceremony paused for moments of silence at 8:46 a.m., the time at which a hijacked jetliner crashed into the north tower; at 9:03 a.m., the moment a second plane struck the south tower; at 9:59 a.m., when the south tower fell; and at 10:29 a.m., when the second tower collapsed.
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In Washington, President Bush marked the anniversary with his wife on the South Lawn, and thousands of people marched in remembrance of the attacks and in tribute to troops fighting overseas.

And in southwestern Pennsylvania, about 1,000 people attended a memorial service in the field where Flight 93 crashed after it was hijacked by terrorists.

"The first heroes of 9/11 were here," said Brian Rohrbaugh, who brought his wife and young children to remember the 40 passengers and crew who died as they struggled with hijackers for control of the plane.

Parents and grandparents read the victims' names at ground zero last year, while children's voices were heard in 2003. A selection of politicians, relatives and others read the names on the first anniversary.

Two light beams inspired by the twin towers were to shoot skyward Sunday night in an echo of the towers' silhouette. The "Tribute in Light" will fade away at dawn on Monday.