Remembering the Dead

Around 7:30 a.m., at Ground Zero, the mournful sound of bagpipes could be heard in the distance.

Beginning in the wee hours of the morning on Wednesday, processions of bagpipers and drummers had begun marching from each of the city’s five boroughs towards the site of what once was New York’s World Trade Center.

They had marched down avenues, over bridges and on ferries to converge on Ground Zero. And as they descended the ramp to the floor of the seven-story-deep pit, their bagpipes wailed out the tune of “America the Beautiful.”

Wednesday began as a still, foggy morning. The blustery wind waited to pick up until the ceremony began.

As the world paused at 8:46 a.m. to honor the moment the first plane struck the North Tower, gusts of wind sent clouds of dust into the air, eerily reminding onlookers of another bright September morning when the sky filled with dust and debris.

The strong winds persisted all day long, blowing dust into the eyes of those gathered at Ground Zero and occasionally making it difficult to hear the recitation of names.

But family members said later that they actually found the wind comforting, taking it to be a symbol that their loved ones were with them as they commemorated the anniversary of their deaths.

Following the 8:46 a.m. moment of silence, New York Governor George Pataki (R) read the Gettysburg Address.

Former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani then led the name-reading ceremony. Dignitaries such as Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Secretary of State Colin Powell, celebrities such as Robert DeNiro and family members of those who died carried on where Giuliani left off, as a string quartet provided a backdrop of solemn music.

While the names were read, family members descended the ramp to the floor of Ground Zero for the first time, where they congregated around and laid flowers in a “circle of honor” at the center of the pit.

Some were in tears, others were stoic. Some wore dark suits, others wore t-shirts emblazoned with the image or name of their loved one.

They walked, crutched and wheeled their way down the ramp to the bottom of the pit.

The recitation of names continued for nearly three hours.

It was interrupted only three times.