9/11’s Pain Still Runs Deep After 4 Years

New York marked the fourth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks Sunday in an emotional ceremony at ground zero that showed wounds had yet to heal.

Holding photos and posters of loved ones, thousands gathered at the site of the former World Trade Center to honor the 2,749 people who died when two airplanes crashed into the twin towers on Sept. 11, 2001. The ceremony, lasting more than four hours, featured brothers and sisters of victims reading a list of the dead.

Under a blazing sun and brilliant blue sky, reminiscent of the weather four years ago, many of the readers broke down as they delivered messages to fallen siblings. Some were overwhelmed as they struggled to pronounce the name of a brother or sister; others managed a smile and blew kisses to the sky when they were done.

“Again we are a city that meets in sadness,” said New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who began the ceremony with brief remarks at 8:46 a.m., the moment the first airplane hit the World Trade Center. The event was briefly halted three times, marking the moment the second plane hit the center, and when each tower fell.

Bloomberg also paid his respects to other victims, adding: “Our hearts turn as well toward London ... and to Americans suffering in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.”

In Washington, President Bush and his wife, Laura, joined with Vice President Dick Cheney and his wife, Lynne, for a ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House. As a bugler played taps, the four stood with hands over their hearts. Earlier, the president and first lady lighted a memorial candle for victims of both Sept. 11 and Hurricane Katrina during services near the White House at St. John’s Episcopal Church.

At the Pentagon, several thousand people participated in a Defense Department-sponsored walk that was part Sept. 11 tribute and part rally for U.S. troops. Antiwar groups had decried the so-called Freedom Walk as a cynical exercise by the Bush administration to shore up sagging support for the war in Iraq. But the event drew few protesters, in part because security was tight and because people had to register in advance to participate.

In a parking lot that was the staging area for the walk, the crowd sang “God Bless America” and observed a moment of silence. Then it began the 1.7-mile walk that went past signature monuments, including Arlington National Cemetery and the Lincoln Memorial.

Officials estimated that the event drew about 10,000 people, including veterans and families of servicemen and servicewomen, many pushing baby carriages and wearing red-white-and-blue T-shirts. The walk finished at the National Mall, where there was a concert by country music singer Clint Black, who in 2003 recorded the pro-military song “I Raq and I Roll.”

In brief remarks, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld paid tribute to families of Sept. 11 victims and hospitalized troops: “This is the first march for freedom, and looking at the size of this crowd, I suppose it will not be the last one.”

Elsewhere, nearly 1,000 people attended a service in Shanksville, Pa., where a fourth plane crashed into a field on Sept. 11 after it had been hijacked by terrorists.

In New Orleans, New York firefighters aiding in the city’s recovery held a service for their 343 comrades who died in the terrorist attacks. They gathered on Canal Street around an impromptu memorial with a sign reading, “Never Forget.” Earlier, local parishioners gave the New York City firefighters a gift in the form of a bell from their church, whose steeple had been destroyed in New Orleans’ devastating storm.

In Southern California, more than 100 Orange County firefighters and 50 fire academy students gathered Sunday morning at the Fire Service Monument in Santa Ana to remember the Sept. 11 victims and also county firefighters who died in the last year. It was one of several events in Southern California on the fourth anniversary of the World Trade Center terrorist attacks.

Santa Ana Fire Department Capt. Mark McDermott said the tribute brought “back the memory of the loss. We go on routine calls, and you think about what could be out there. We remember that our duty is to serve, but also to come home.”

During the New York ceremonies, readers were asked to briefly refer to their brothers and sisters. But some found it hard to simply mention a name; they wanted to make a comment about the deaths that had left jagged holes in their lives.

“You were my best friend, my North Star, and I see your face every day when I look in the mirror,” said Julie Haberman, whose sister, Andrea, perished in the attacks.

“We miss you so much, your kind and gentle ways,” Geralyn Chicoine said in a trembling voice, remembering her brother, New York firefighter Lt. Michael Healey.

After hearing the names of family members read aloud, many of the participants walked down a ramp to a reflecting pool in the pit of ground zero, marking the site of the towers. Some left bouquets of flowers. Others quietly bowed their heads in prayer.

As in the past, New York officials kept speeches to a minimum. Besides Bloomberg, New York Gov. George E. Pataki, acting New Jersey Gov. Richard Codey, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, New York’s mayor at the time of the attacks, delivered brief remarks.

“I have no brother or sister,” Giuliani said. “But now, all of those we remember today are my brothers and sisters. We stand together to help each other and to help those who need our help in the future.... That’s the meaning of what happened here.”

For George and Zoe Kosoulis, the annual trip to ground zero in remembrance of their daughter, Danielle, was more about pain and the struggle to overcome it.

A bond trader with Cantor Fitzgerald, Danielle was working on the 104th floor of the north tower on the morning of the attacks. Just two weeks shy of her 30th birthday, she was “a bright light” for family members, her mother said.

“I come down here because this is the last place she was,” Zoe Kosoulis said. She held up a homemade poster featuring color photos of her smiling daughter, with the inscription “We Love You! We Miss You!” and the dates of her life.

Danielle’s younger brother, Peter, could not attend the ceremony because “it is still too devastating a thing for him to handle,” Zoe Kosoulis said.

Time has done nothing to ease the pain, the Haddonfield, N.J., resident said. And she was beginning to feel anxiety: Her older daughter, Elena, would read Danielle’s name during the ceremonies. How would she react? What would she do?

Two hours later, Elena stepped to the podium and, with a catch in her voice, spoke: “My loving sister. My very best friend. Dan, we miss you....”

Zoe Kosoulis stood rigidly. When it was over, she quietly picked up a bouquet of red roses. With her husband, she began the long walk to the reflecting pool.

New York’s Sept. 11 commemoration ended Sunday evening with the “Tribute in Light.” The display, near ground zero, featured two immense light beams meant to symbolize the fallen towers. The display lasted from sunset until dawn today.

Times staff writer Richard B. Schmitt in Washington contributed to this report.