NEW YORK—They came to mourn the loss of family, friends and, for many New Yorkers in the crowd, two towers that had come to symbolize everything they love about their city.

At Ground Zero Wednesday, family members, dignitaries and survivors gathered to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The ceremony was simple. There were no celebrity performances, surprises or speeches full of rhetoric—just the somber reading of 2,801 names.

“They were our neighbors, our husbands, our children, our sisters, our brothers and our wives—they were our countrymen and friends—they were us,” New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said as he introduced the ceremony where the names of the victims who died at the World Trade Center were read.

Though the city has bounced back remarkably from that horrific Tuesday morning one year ago, Wednesday was a day for remembering.

Standing in the crowd at the south end of Ground Zero before the ceremony, a group of New Yorkers tried to recall where the buildings had once stood and what they had looked like. They talked about stores that had been lost and favorite restaurants that had been closed because of the lack of business in Lower Manhattan after the attacks.

New Yorkers throughout the city relived their Sept. 11 experiences, sharing minute-by-minute accounts with friends, family and total strangers.

The immense sadness of the day was mitigated by the spirit of sharing and good will of the crowd gathered at Ground Zero.

Samantha Aezen, a New Yorker who served as a Red Cross volunteer assisting with the relief efforts following the attacks, said she came down to Ground Zero with a group of friends, some of whom had lost loved ones on Sept. 11.

Being there on the one-year anniversary was a “humbling” experience, Aezen said.

“It really makes me realize how fortunate I am,” she said. “I go home, and everybody’s fine.”

Aezen said she could not imagine the grief felt by the family and friends of the victims.

“You really can’t watch this ocean of people and not think, ‘Take nothing for granted,’” she said.

Randy A. Wittreich is a volunteer fire fighter with the Rivervale, N.J. volunteer fire company.

Wednesday was his first trip back to Ground Zero since he and several members of his company headed down to the site on Sept. 12 to help with the rescue efforts.

Wittreich left his home in New Jersey at 4:30 a.m. so that he would be able to get close enough the Ground Zero to hear—if not to see—the ceremonies firsthand.

“I just felt there was somewhere I needed to be today,” Wittreich said. “I felt it’s only going to happen once, and I’d rather be a part of it than working.”

Returning to the Site

The families were asked to arrive at Ground Zero as early as 6:30 a.m.

Red Cross volunteers handed out packs of tissues, as well as water and food, to the families and members of the crowd as they waited for the ceremony to begin.

Purple leis were given to the family members so they might wear them or leave them at the site. In Hawaii, in the event of a funeral or death, it is traditional to present a lei in place of a floral wreath.

Uniformed officers of every type also gathered at Ground Zero.

They were police officers, firefighters, Port Authority officers, sheriffs and rescue workers, to name a few.

Though most were from New York or New Jersey, they came from all over the nation—and the world—to show their support for those officers who perished in the line of duty on Sept. 11.

Firefighters and police officers in full uniform lined the east wall of the pit, where they observed the ceremony.

And officers from the K-9 Unit brought several special guests back to the site—the rescue dogs who were so instrumental in searching for the bodies of those lost in the attacks and lifting the spirits of rescue workers.

“We’re praying for you,” a man called out from the crowd as the officers began to assemble at the south end of the Ground Zero site.

Indeed, it was a day of prayer for New Yorkers and the world.

Priests, rabbis and Buddhist monks stood among the crowd, praying and comforting the victims’ families.

“We pray for the peace—we pray for those who died,” said a monk from the True Buddha Diamond Temple, located just south of Ground Zero, while taking a break from his chanting and incantations.

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.

At 9:03 a.m. and 9:59 a.m., two daughters whose fathers were lost in the attacks each performed readings to mark the moments when the second plane hit and when the first tower fell, respectively.

And at 10:29 a.m., the moment the second tower collapsed, fire engines blared their horns as bells were rung at Ground Zero and across the city.

The name-reading concluded as the two final readers said in unison, “May God bless the victims—may God bless America.”

From every corner of Ground Zero, applause filled the air.

Uniformed officers then stood at attention as a lone bugler, standing on a jagged edge of the pit, played Taps on his horn.

The ceremony closed with a reading of the Declaration of Independence by New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey (D) and a rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner played by the string quartet.

The crowd then applauded while the family members began to slowly and quietly file out of Ground Zero.

Eternal Flame

Ceremonies to commemorate the Sept. 11 anniversary took place throughout the city Wednesday.

Mid-afternoon, a gospel choir assembled on the steps of St. Vincent’s Hospital to sing inspirational songs like “This Little Light of Mine” against the backdrop of a wall full of pictures, names and messages.

The evening was marked by candlelighting vigils held throughout the city, including one in Central Park that featured musical appearances by Merryl Streep, Billy Joel and Wynton Marsallis.

But around 7:30 p.m., all of those ceremonies paused to watch on giant TV screens as Bloomberg was joined by numerous dignitaries, including Secretary of State Powell, in a ceremony to light an eternal flame at the Sphere Memorial in Battery Park.

The memorial consists of a sphere that formerly stood at the fountain in the center of the World Trade Center Plaza.

Though cracked and bent, the sphere is still intact and one of the few physical remnants of the World Trade Center.

The official Sept. 11 anniversary ceremonies came to a close shortly after 9 p.m. Wednesday night with President Bush’s address to the nation from Ellis Island.

As the wind continued to gust through the streets of New York, those who gathered throughout the city to commemorate the anniversary returned to their homes.

A red, white and blue Empire State Building, now the tallest building in Manhattan, stood watch over the skyline.

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