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The 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks was marked by a solemn ceremony at the World Trade Centre site, where families of the victims gathered to pay their respects. Personal stories of the lives lost were shared, highlighting the ongoing impact of the tragedy on future generations. The event also featured a call for accountability from Saudi Arabia regarding its alleged role in the attacks.
Susan Rossinow touches the engraved name of her husband Norman Rossinow during the ceremony to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York.
Photograph: Jeenah Moon/Getty Images. Many of the families of those lost came laden down with wreaths, with floral bouquets, with babies and all that paraphernalia, with walking aids and with hundreds and hundreds of framed photographs of their loved ones. Many, like the people who worked in the World Trade Center 25 years ago, came by subway. The former presidents of thecame shrouded by security and then took their seats on plain white plastic chairs.
Retired fire chiefs and NYPD men were buffed and brassed. Around the world, on all the broadcast channels, the unforgettable sounds and visions from that day - the screaming planes, the explosions, the falling debris and arriving rescue troops and then finally the God-awful unforgettable sight of the towers imploding - were replayed and remembered.
But as the hour moved towards the precise minute when the first plane was flown into the north tower, what are the sounds at this place 25 years on? A wickedly inventive political ad is airing in Texas as midterm elections loom String music, pipe music; constant water at the memorial pools where the two towers stood; low conversation; even laughter when friends or family or old firefighters meet up; babies crying, phones beeping.
Life marching irrepressibly on, in other words - except for the silent observances of the times when the hijacked planes struck the towers and when the towers collapsed. All of those sounds but mostly, the sound of those lost remembered through stories.
"Yeah, he loved to fish, Jennifer Nilsen says of her late husband, Troy. "His grandfather had a boat at that time. " She and Troy Nilsen were Staten Island 1980s kids who were introduced by mutual best friends. "Started dating at 19.
" They have two boys, one of whom is autistic. "He knows but I don't think he really comprehends it. My other son ... he keeps a lot of this inside of him. It's sad growing up without a father, you know?
Troy was a hands-on Dad. Involved.
" Regan and Kristin Koniuch stand close to the south pool holding a photograph of Regan's late father, Peter Wallace. He was working for Marsh McLennan, the insurance firm, on the 101st floor that morning after making his usual commute in from Lincoln Park, New Jersey.
"He was a wonderful Dad. He provided for us when we were young - two jobs. And he worked his way up and became vice president of his department. And he was a very proud marine - he joined and fought in Korea.
I think he was 16 when he enlisted. And he was a very proud American. He was 66 and still working. He had five grandchildren who loved him very, very much.
" These are just two of the 2,977 stories and lives obliterated during this hour 25 years ago. Multiply those absences with immediate family and friends and grandchildren not yet born and you get an idea of the generational trauma inflicted by the murders. It takes several hours to read each of names aloud. Sometimes, the readers will break in with personal memories that are piercing in their lightness: "we still tell your funny stories"; "get the ice cream today.
Don't wait"; "John, I miss your hugs, I miss you tonnes". Flags, flowers, photographs and a stuffed toy are placed on the inscribed names of victims at the 9/11 Memorial. Photograph: Jeenah Moon/Getty Images One speaker mentioned the ongoing campaign by families for an acknowledgment from Saudi Arabia for "promoting anti-American terrorism around the globe and sending its agents to support the radical Islamic hijackers so they could attack you and all of our loved ones.
But for 25 years administration after administration, including leaders in front of us today chose to protect the Saudis instead of standing with the 9/11 families. They broke promises both public and private. It has been one betrayal after another.
" The former presidents stared fixedly ahead as applause rippled through the memorial glade. The silences were observed and for those moments, the only sound was of falling water. They've somehow managed to make the remembrance of New York's most violent and terrible hour into a meeting point of the better qualities of humanity. Lots of love, lots of warmth through the sadness.
After 25 years, 9/11 is slowly receding into history. One hundred million Americans were either born after 9/11 or were too young then to remember. Former US presidents Bill Clinton, George W Bush and Barack Obama. Photograph: Barry Williams/Getty Images "Of course the first one was so hard but I feel like the 25th is extremely hard," says Regan Koniuch.
"Because it almost feels like this happened yesterday. But it has been 25 years and that's just very hard to imagine. This is not easy. They've made these beautiful memorial pools and I so appreciate that.
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