NEW YORK — During years of going to ground zero every Sept. 11, Tom Acquaviva has seen crowds diminish at the ceremonies commemorating the terror attacks. But his determination to participate hasn’t.
“As long as I’m breathing, I’ll be here,” Acquaviva, 81, said Friday as he arrived to pay tribute to his late son, Paul.
More than 1,000 victims’ relatives, survivors and recovery workers marked the 14th anniversary at ground zero with grief, gratitude and appeals to keep the toll front of mind as years pass. “It’s a hard day. But it’s an important day. I’ll come every year that I can,” recovery worker Robert Matticola said.
But if the private ceremony is smaller than in its early years, the date also has become an occasion for the public to revisit ground zero, where the memorial plaza now opens to everyone on the anniversary.
Around the country, the date was marked with what has become a tradition of lowered flags, wreath-laying, bell-tolling and, in New York, reading the names of the nearly 3,000 people killed in the terror strikes at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. One woman at ground zero collapsed during the ceremony, apparently overcome by grief; bystanders helped her to her feet.
Family members praised first responders, thanked the armed forces and prayed for unity and security. They also sent personal messages to their lost loved ones.
“You are the reason that I wear this uniform and stand here today,” Air Force Technical Sgt. Sparkle Thompson said of her uncle, Louie Anthony Williams.
In Washington, President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama stepped out of the White House for a moment of silence at 8:46 a.m., when the first of four hijacked planes hit on Sept. 11, 2001, striking the World Trade Center’s north tower. Later Friday, the president told troops at Fort Meade in Maryland that he hoped Sept. 11 would inspire thoughts of what binds the country together, while Vice President Joe Biden praised New Yorkers’ resilience in remarks to bikers and police officers taking part in a 9/11 memorial motorcycle ride.
The Flight 93 National Memorial near Shanksville marked the completion of its $26 million visitor center, which opened to the public Thursday. At the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Ash Carter and other officials joined in remembrances for victims’ relatives and Pentagon employees. Other observances were held around the country.
Some Americans honored the anniversary in their own ways.
“I don’t go to the memorial. I don’t watch it on TV. But I make sure, every year, I observe a moment of silence at 8:46,” electrician Jeff Doran said as he stood across the street from the trade center, where the signature, 1,776-foot One World Trade Center tower has opened since last Sept. 11.
The memorial plaza opened in 2011 but was closed to the public on the anniversary until last year, when an estimated 20,000 people flocked there to pay respects in the evening. Moved by the influx, organizers decided to open it more quickly after the ceremony this year.
Some victims’ relatives welcome the openness after years when the site was largely off-limits for construction. “It’s a little more comfortable for people to be here,” said Alexandria Perez, who lost her aunt, Ana Centeno.
But to Erick Jimenez, a brother of 9/11 victim Eliezer Jimenez Jr., “every year, it’s a little less personal,” though he still appreciates being with others who lost loved ones.
This year’s anniversary comes as Congress is weighing whether to start providing financing for the memorial plaza and whether to extend programs that promised billions of dollars in compensation and medical care to Sept. 11 responders and survivors. They’re set to expire next year.
“People are still dying because of what happened,” both on battlefields and from illnesses that some responders have developed after exposure to toxic dust, Army Sgt. Edwin Morales said as he arrived at ground zero in remembrance of a cousin, firefighter Ruben “Dave” Correa.
Jyothi Shah read names of victims in memory of her husband, Jayesh Shantitlal Shah, then paused with a message for the public.
“My kids and I would like to humbly thank everyone who has helped us, through the last 14 years, to be able to gently go through the sorrows, the suffering, the pain,” she said. “Thank you all very much — the city, the nation, the friends, the family.”
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Associated Press writers Karen Matthews and Josh Lederman in New York and Kevin Freking in Ford Meade, Maryland, contributed to this report.
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Reach Jennifer Peltz on Twitter (at) jennpeltz and Jonathan Lemire on Twitter (at) JonLemire.
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This story has been corrected to show that the given name of the elder Acquaviva is Tom, not Paul.
Anniversary updates
NEW YORK — Updates earlier Friday on the 14th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks (all times local):
12:30 p.m.
Vice President Joe Biden and singer Billy Joel have honored firefighters at a station whose ranks were decimated on 9/11.
The two joined New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in Manhattan at Rescue Company 1, a unit of the Fire Department of New York. The White House says Rescue 1 lost nearly half its members when it responded to the north tower of the World Trade Center.
Biden greeted firefighters with hugs and handshakes in front of memorial plaques honoring their comrades who died on 9/11 and in other incidents. He praised the firefighters for their loyalty and told them to take care of themselves.
The vice president also plans to join Cuomo on Friday at the kickoff for the 9/11 Memorial Motorcycle Ride.
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12:15 p.m.
The mournful playing of taps has marked the conclusion of the World Trade Center ceremony marking the 14th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
There was a smattering of applause Friday when the final victim’s name was read at ground zero. Then people began milling around the memorial plaza in lower Manhattan.
Linda Spinella, of Wayne, New Jersey, was there to honor her brother, Mark Zangrilli. The father of two worked for an insurance company in the south tower.
Spinella blinked back tears and said she doesn’t like to think about what happened that day.
Instead, she concentrates on the the happy memories, like her brother’s “goofy jokes and the way he loved his kids.”
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11:05 a.m.
A livery driver who helped police thwart a suspected kidnapping has received a bravery award named for a flight attendant on a hijacked plane from Boston that was flown into the World Trade Center 14 years ago.
The Madeline Amy Sweeney Award for Civilian Bravery was given Friday to Albeiro Gomez of Worcester, Massachusetts, during a Statehouse event marking the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
Officials say Gomez unwittingly picked up the kidnapping suspect and his two captives, a woman and her 11-month-old baby. When police later surrounded the vehicle, Gomez lunged over the seat and grabbed a gun away from the suspect, helping police capture the man.
Sweeney was credited with discreetly contacting authorities and providing them with the first critical information about the actions of the hijackers.
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10:50 a.m.
Secretary of State John Kerry is honoring those who died in the terror attacks 14 years ago as well as the four Americans killed on Sept. 11, 2012, at a U.S. diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, Libya.
Kerry says each “was a brave and dedicated professional … deeply committed to service” on America’s behalf.
He says the anniversary should be a reminder to press on with American diplomacy. He says the United States will never be intimidated by terrorists.
The 2012 attack on a U.S. post in Benghazi killed U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens, foreign service officer Sean Smith, and two CIA contractors, Tyrone S. Woods and Glen Doherty.
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10:30 a.m.
A simple, life-affirming moment has punctuated the otherwise solemn World Trade Center ceremony marking the 14th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.
A child let go of a red balloon. Heads turned as it floated above the plaza.
But the sense of loss was still very much in evidence Friday.
Before the moment of silence marking the time that the World Trade Center’s north tower fell, a woman collapsed, apparently from grief. Two relatives and a 9/11 museum staffer had to help her to her feet.
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10:20 a.m.
The names of passengers and crew killed in the hijacking of United Flight 93 have been read as bells also toll in their honor on the 14th anniversary of 9/11.
Hundreds gathered for a ceremony to honor the 33 passengers and seven crew members aboard the flight brought down near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Flight 93 was headed from Newark, New Jersey, to San Francisco on Sept. 11, 2001, when it was hijacked with the likely goal of crashing it into the White House or Capitol. A passenger revolt ended with it going down in a Pennsylvania field.
Ben Mecham of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, brought his 7-year-old son, Parker.
Mecham says children should not think of it as just “another plane crash.”
Parker says he “can’t believe” that people were so brave.
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10 a.m.
A moment of silence has been held in remembrance of the time that the World Trade Center’s south tower fell.
People from all walks of life, and throughout the world, have been taking marking Friday’s 14th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
In Jersey City, New Jersey, emergency responders are holding a blood drive along the Hudson River, across from where the World Trade Center towers once stood.
A wreath-laying ceremony was held at the 9/11 memorial in the Boston Public Garden.
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9:40 a.m.
A third moment of silence has been observed at the World Trade Center, commemorating the time that Flight 77 struck the Pentagon.
Earlier, as the day’s solemn observances began, President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama bowed their heads during a ceremony with staff Friday on the White House lawn.
The crowd stood silently, gazing toward the Washington Monument and the Pentagon. The silence was punctured only by the sound of planes taking off and landing at a nearby airport.
After a bugler played taps, the Obamas clasped hands and walked back into the White House.
American Airlines Flight 77 was flying from Washington to Los Angeles with 64 people aboard when it was hijacked and flown into the Pentagon 14 years ago Friday.
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9:35 a.m.
People on the street near the World Trade Center have also been paying their respects to those killed in the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
On Friday, electrician Jeff Doran stood across from the trade center site looking at the towers now under construction.
Doran says he does not go to the memorial or watch the ceremony on TV.
But every year, he makes sure to observe a moment of silence.
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9:05 a.m.
A second moment of silence has been observed to mark the time the second plane struck the south tower of the World Trade Center.
Victims’ relatives and others observed the moment at 9:03 a.m. Friday at ground zero.
Mini flags and flowers dot the perimeters of the site’s reflecting pools, affixed lovingly next to victims’ names.
The Sept. 11 attacks killed nearly 3,000 people, including more than 2,700 in New York City.
United Airlines Flight 175 from Boston was headed to Los Angeles 14 years ago Friday when it was hijacked by terrorists and crashed into the south tower, killing all 65 people aboard.
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8:50 a.m.
Bells are tolling as New York City observes a moment of silence to observe the time the first plane struck the north tower of the World Trade Center 14 years ago.
Families of victims of the 2001 and 1993 World Trade Center attacks began reading names Friday at ground zero.
President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama stepped out of the White House at 8:46 a.m. to observe a moment of silence.
Nereida Valle carried a photo of her daughter, Nereida DeJesus, who was 31 and working for Aon when she died on the 98th floor of the south tower.
Says the mother at ground zero: “I feel her every day.”
