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[h=4]After 14 years, 9/11 memories still sear the heart[/h]Officials, dignitaries, and family members of the victims go to Ground Zero to honor the dead and reflect on the day that changed America forever.
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Outside Ground Zero on the 14th anniversary was a mix of locals and tourists looking to pay their respects. They shared their memories of that day with USA TODAY and spoke of how reflections change as time passes. Video by Michael Monday
Flowers lie on 9/11 Memorial on Sept. 11, 2015, in New York.(Photo: Andrew Burton, Getty Images)
NEW YORK — It still sears the heart. And the memories still send shivers down spines and raise the hairs on arms.
On Friday morning, crowds gathered once again at the site of the Twin Towers of New York's World Trade Center to confront those 14-year-old memories and remember those who died when terrorists plowed two hijacked planes into the city's tallest buildings.
Inside the memorial to the victims of those horrific hours, family members, officials and dignitaries observed six moments of silence as the names of the dead were read by their loved ones.
Organizers of the Ground Zero ceremony decided in 2012 to stop letting elected officials read names, though politicians still can attend. Over the years, some victims' relatives have invoked political matters while reading names — such as declaring that Sept. 11 should be a national holiday — but others have sought to keep the focus personal.
Under a cover of fast-moving clouds, a mixture of commuters, New Yorkers and tourists gathered at the entrance to the memorial ceremonies, many of them drawn by the anniversary.
New Yorker Matt Johnson, a student originally from California, said he felt he had to come down to the site on the anniversary. "I've always been really impacted by the events of 14 years ago," he said. "It's a really important part of our history and always makes me emotional, so I figured today was an important time to come down and remember what was lost."
Johnson was only six at the time of the attacks but says he "vividly" remembers Sept. 11, 2001.
"I was brushing my teeth and my mom came upstairs, and she was crying … and I remember going downstairs and seeing what was going on. I didn't fully understand it because I was six, but I remember realizing that this was a big deal."
Being at the site itself, he said, provides a picture of the enormity of the attack. "It puts it all in perspective rather than feeling that all this happened 3.000 miles away."
Johnson's friend Robert Gray, 20, also a student, grew up in suburban New York and said his father worked just a couple of blocks from Ground Zero.
"I remember waiting an extensive amount of time for him to come home that day… I remember my mother bursting into my bedroom crying. I remember afterward the smell for a very long time because it wafted over the water from the city."
Gray said several students in school were inspired by 9/11. "I have friends of mine … who are now in the military, who have now become firemen or policemen in New York as a result of that."
He said he felt it was important to visit the site on the anniversary. "Let's go pay our respects. Be with the rest of New York and memorialize it."
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For William Nipper, visiting from Charlotte, N.C., it was his first visit to the site of the Twin Towers attack.
"I was doing jury duty," he said, recalling when he first heard about the attacks, "and we heard the news of the first plane and were taken into a courtroom and we were unable to see news until we got out."
He said he felt "shock, unbelief – just amazement that it had happened."
Looking back, he said the events reminded him that "we live in a world that is full of hate and sin … and I understand that America is not sheltered from the world – bad things happen everywhere – and this is something that happened to us."
A large contingent of police, some of them with dogs and some from the NYPD anti-terrorism squad, guarded the entry, fielding questions from members of the public. At the side, commuters streamed from the PATH train, which links to the New Jersey suburbs. They dodged among the camera-toting tourists, many of them from Britain and other parts of Europe.
Paul Troth, a visitor from Birmingham, England, said he was drawn to the site to mark the anniversary. "I feel an emotion around here," he said, "It makes it a lot more real."
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Troth said his country was accustomed to terrorism, particularly attacks by the Irish Republican Army in the 1970s and '80s, "But this was something on a global scale. This wasn't a localized event – it was something that would have an impact for years to come."
He said he was impressed by the transformation of the site. "I think it's fantastic, he said. "We've got his huge landmark … that everyone can see from miles away. It's a positive step to rebuild something quite so magnificent. It's like defiance in a way."
In the background, work continued in the shadow of the almost completed One World Trade Center, also known as the Freedom Tower. At the patriotically chosen height of 1,776 feet, it rises – 48 feet higher than even the top of an antenna on the North Tower of the two buildings it replaced – thrusting defiantly into the morning sky.
Zachary Ellicott, left, a firefighter in Stanhope, N.J, and his brother Benjamin Ellicott, also a firefighter in Stanhope, far right, hug their father Mitch Ellicott, a lieutenant with the Sussex County Sheriff's office as they take a moment to remember a family member lost in the terrorist attack in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001.<span style="color: Red;">*</span> Andrew Burton, Getty Images
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Now being constructed is a giant transit center that will bring together several New York City subways as well as the suburban PATH system. Topping this building is a giant crown that resembles that on the Statue of Liberty, which towers not far away in the waters between New York and New Jersey.
Visitors to the site talked about how the new buildings, especially the Freedom Tower, represented the resiliency of Americans in the face of terrorists.
Peter Erbe, from Concord, N.C., a suburb of Charlotte, said he felt it was important to visit the site and "feel the experience."
He said he felt "a lot of emotion. … It's hard not to be moved by being here," and that the transformation of the site "shows the resilience and ability of Americans to bounce back and say 'Nuts to you guys.'"
A New York City firefighter stands as part of an honor guard on Sept. 11, 2015, at a wall memorializing the 343 firefighters who died on 9/11 in New York.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: Justin Lane, EPA)
Inside the memorial, loved ones remembered the nearly 3,000 lives lost in the surrounding blocks. Lives of office workers, firefighters, police officers, delivery workers. Rich people, poor people and in between, they all became equal in death.
The solemn occasion called for a pause in the reading of the name six times to mark the critical moments of that tragic day.
At 8:46 a.m., a moment of silence marked the moment when the first plane arrived, plowing into the North Tower with a never-forgotten cacophony of disintegration and explosion.
In Washington, President Obama accompanied by first lady Michelle Obama, stepped solemnly from the White House onto the lawn Friday morning for a brief commemoration service at that precise moment.
Against a backdrop of an honor guard and a crowd gathered for the occasion, the Obamas stood apart with heads bowed and hands over their hearts as a bell tolled to mark the moment the first plane hit the towers. In the silence, a bugler played Taps.
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Then they turned and walked slowly back into the White House as a flag above the building flew at half-staff. The president was also scheduled to observe the anniversary with a visit to Fort Meade, Md., in recognition of the military's work to protect the country.
The five other critical moments of 9/11 framed the day that will linger long in the nation's memory:
• At 9:03 a.m. came the second attack, when an airliner roared down the Hudson River and pierced the South Tower.
• At 9:37 a.m., the aerial attack on the Pentagon.
At the site on Friday, officials and family members observed a moment of silence, followed by brief remarks from Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and Gen. Paul Selva, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who stood in front of seven American flags fluttering in a constant breeze.
Carter expressed his condolences to family members, and said that after the tragedy of 9/11, "We come back stronger than ever.
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"Terrorists who hope to intimidate us will find no satisfaction or success in threatening the United States," he said.
"After 14 years and forevermore, terrorists who threaten us will learn this simply but unbending truth: No matter how long it takes, no matter where they hide, they will not escape the long arm of justice."
• At 9:59 a.m. the collapse of the South Tower only 56 minutes after it was struck.
•At 10:03 a.m, the crash of Flight 93 in Shanksville, Pa., as brave passengers confronted hijackers on another plane, forcing it down and preventing another attack in Washington, D.C.
Hundreds gathered for a ceremony Friday to honor the 33 passengers and seven crewmembers aboard the flight.
• At 10:28 a.m., the dust-spewing implosion of the North Tower.
Another onlooker, Andre Ellis Jr., of Neptune, N.J., commutes to an office close to the site.
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He said he was in his middle school math class when he heard about the attacks. "The teacher stopped everything suddenly and told us to call our parents. … And I later found out we were under attack.
"I was devastated because I had family members and friends who had parents who worked in the city, and it was just unclear what was happening. We were uncertain of their health at the time. It was a very sad time."
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September 11, 2015 marks the 14th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks that took the lives of nearly 3,000 people. Today, the 9/11 Memorial and Museum serves as a way to honor and remember those who were lost. VPC
Ellis said it is "sort of surreal" to work near the attack site. "I pass through here every day and I just imagine what is was like being here during that time when it happened. What would I have done? It just always crosses my mind."
"My condolences go out to the families mourning every 9/11 that comes along. They have to remember what has happened. We as a country have to remember what happened. It will always be there."
Contributing: Doug Stanglin in McLean, Va.
2015: The National September 11 Memorial and Museum, center foreground, surrounded by One World Trade Center, left, the white v-shaped transportation hub, center, and 4 World Trade Center, the tall building at right, in New York. The building under construction at center right is 3 World Trade Center. Sept. 11, 2015 will mark the 14th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States.<span style="color: Red;">*</span> Mark Lennihan, AP
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