A dozen years have not dimmed the memoജries of those who los๊t loved ones on 9/11.
“No matt♓er how many years pass, this time comes around each year — and it’✅s always the same,” said Karen Hinson of Seaford, who lost her 34-year-old brother, Michael Wittenstein, a Cantor Fitzgerald employee.
“My brother was never found, so this is where he is for us,” she said as she arrived f💯or the ceremon🍌y with her family early Wednesday.
Hinson was among thousands gathered near Ground Zero to mark the 12th🎐 anniversary of the deadly Al Qaeda terror attack, now a familiar but still powerful ritual that unites Americans across the US.
At the ceremony during a warm, humid morning on the 2-year-old Memorial Plaza in Lower Manhattan, relatives recited the names of the nearly 3,0🐈00 people who died when hijacked jets crashed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and near Shanksville, Pa.
The event started with the solemn tolling of a bell and a moment of silence at 8:46 a.m., when the first p꧂lane hit the Twin Towers on a clear, sunny day in 2001.
Kathy Swift, 54, of Jersey City, softly touched a tree that she said was planted for her brother, Thomas Swift, who workeܫd for Morgan Stanley and was in the ෴south tower when he died at age 29.
“This is his tree. I come here every year. I feel closer to him being here. I feel like I’m with him. I feel g🗹uilty leaving because you feel like you’re leaving him here,” she said, fighting back tears.
“Everybody from his office got out except for him. It’s harder to come back for this 🌺every year. Where did 12 years go? It’s getting harder, not easier. We have no place else to go,” she said about herself and her relatives.
Nick Chi💧archiaro♛, 70, lost his wife Dorothy, 62 and niece Delores Costa, 52, who worked for Fred Alger Management on the 93rd floor of the WTC.
“She was beautiful and sexy. She wore a bikini at 58⭕ years old,” he said, before recalling the day they met
“We were at a Christmas Party and I was kissing everybody and she said, ‘How about me?’ I went to kiss her on the cheek and we accidentally kissed on the lips and my stomacღh flipped. I fell in love that moment,” he said.
Denise Matuza, 46, of Staten Island lost her husband Walter, then 39, who worked for Carr Futu𒊎res.
“I come here every year with my three boys. We find comfort coming here. We get support from eachꦓ other. No one understand what we go through. We hurt everyday,” said Matuza, who rode a bus in with 55 other Staten Islanders who lost people in the attacks.
“I spoke 🦋to him that morning. He called and said he would be home in a little while. He never came home.”
At One Poli♔ce Plaza, families of cops who died on 9/11 came streaming in at daybreak before heading to Ground Zero.
On-duty 🍃cops, some in full-dress uniform, assembled with civilian employees for a memorial ceremony at the NYPD’s headquarters.
While preparations for the ceremony were underway, with police barricades blocking access to the site, life around the World Trade Center looked like any other morning, with harried workers rushing to their jobs and construction cranes loomin🔯g overhead.
Tributes were also held at the Pentagon and atཧ the Fligh🍃t 93 National Memorial in Shanksville.
Continuing a decision made last year, no politicians spoke at the ღNew York’s commemoration, including Mayor Blo☂omberg.
Plenty were on hand, however, including Bloomberg, Cuomo, former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, ex-Gov. George Pataki, Democratic mayoral primary winner Bi▨ll de Blasio and runner-up Bill Thompson.
Memorial organizers expect to take most responsibility for the ceremony next year and say they plan to continue concentrating the event on victimꦏs’ loved ones.
“As things evolve in the future, the focus on the remembrance is going t❀o stay sacrosanct,” memoria💞l President Joe Daniels said.
While the memorial honors those killed, the planned museum will present a bro🌠ader picture of 9/11, including the experiences of survivors and fiꩲrst responders.
But the organizers expect they “will always keep the focus on the ꦅfamilies on the anniversary,” Daniels said💛.
Meanwhile, the city DOT says some streets will remain closed around Lower M☂anhattan until 5 p.m. due to the anniversary activities.
They include areas boꩲunded by Vesey Street on the north; Battery Place on the south; Broadway on the east; and West Street.
The closings aꦍlso include State Street between Battery P🌱lace and Whitehall Street.
With AP