Throughout the day yesterday, volunteers and family members stood sentinel at the site, reading obituaries of those lost in the attacks from a compilation published by The New York Times.

Jim Kelly, one of four who began reading the obituaries at 9 a.m. Monday morning, said it was an incredibly emotional experience.

“It’s beyond moving because there’s a picture of the person looking at you,” Kelly said. “It’s like they’re standing right next to you.”

Scott Cleere was among those who read a loved one’s obituary aloud to the crowd gathered at Ground Zero.

Cleere lost his father, James, a businessman from Iowa who happened to be in New York for a meeting on the morning of Sept. 11.

Scott Cleere was James’ oldest son. This was his first trip to Ground Zero.

“I was expecting something different,” he said. “It’s not as bad as I thought it would be.”

Scott was driving to his job in the Florida school system on the morning of Sept. 11 when his mother called him and told him to pull over because she had bad news.

He continued on his way to work but made it through only two hours before taking the rest of the day—and the following four days—off to deal with his grief.

Scott’s father was never found. And though his mother was given an urn full of dust and ash from Ground Zero, he has no concrete reminder of his father. He said he is hoping to get permission to carry a handful of dust or debris from Ground Zero back with him to Florida.

Though each obituary read yesterday brought a tear to the eyes of those gathered at Ground Zero, one of the more incredible moments was when it was announced that a Colombian family had asked to have the obituary of their loved one, Sonya Artiz, read aloud. As it was read, a cell phone was held up so that the obituary could be broadcast on a local radio station and heard by the family.

At the east corner of the Ground Zero pit stands the sole remainder of what once was New York’s World Trade Center—two steel beams connected to form a cross. The rest of the remnants—the steel, the glass, the bodies of those who toiled each day inside the buildings—are gone.

Gone, but not forgotten.

In today’s ceremony, former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani will begin a reading of the names of each and every soul who perished in the attacks on the World Trade Center. And whatever monument, memorial or office building complex is ultimately constructed on the site, it will forever be hallowed ground.

As a sign stretched across the scaffolding on the viewing platform at the south end of Ground Zero proclaims, “We will never forget.”

—Staff writer Kate L. Rakoczy can be reached at rakoczy@fas.harvard.edu.