Solemn Tributes Mark 24 Years Since 9/11 Terrorist Attacks
New York Daily News
(TNS)
The bright blue sky above the World Trade Center site in lower Manhattan on Thursday did little to improve the solemn mood felt by the hundreds of visitors marking the 24th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks.
In fact, it did quite the opposite. It reminded mourners of that horrific day two decades ago — and how a bright sunny September morning with so much promise ended in one of the darkest days in the city’s history.
“I can’t help but notice the weather today, it is very much like it was 24 years ago on 9/11,” NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, a native New Yorker, told PIX11 Thursday. “There was a beautiful blue sky and it was warm out. That’s what I remember. That’s why this is quite meaningful to me.”
Families and friends of the 2,977 victims of the World Trade Center terror attacks — some wearing T-shirts with their loved ones’ faces on them or holding flowers and framed photos — took turns reading off the names of the victims as a bagpiper played. They stopped briefly for moments of silence, marking the times when the north and south towers were struck and fell.
Mayor Adams and mayoral hopefuls Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani and former Gov. Cuomo stood in silence as the names were read with former Mayors Mike Bloomberg and Rudolph Giuliani, who was still wearing a brace from his recent car accident.
“Sometimes we feel the further you move away from a tragedy that we forget,” Mayor Adams said on PIX11. “We believe the threats are not still lingering. But in fact they are. And we have to be constantly vigilant to prevent them.”
Adams said that the hatred which led to the assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk in Utah is “the same hate that drove two planes into the World Trade Center.”
“If we don’t pause for a moment on 9/11 to state that we’re better than that as Americans, we’re better than that as human beings, then we’re going to find ourselves in a dark place,” Adams said.
Tisch said that the NYPD usually sees “an increase in threat reporting” in September, usually coinciding with the 9/11 anniversary, the upcoming U.S. General Assembly and the high holy days.
Earlier this week, the NYPD said they were monitoring a potential terror threat against East River bridges and tunnels.
As a result, “New Yorkers are going to see more of an NYPD presence at critical infrastructure and the entrances to bridges and tunnels,” Tisch said.
Vice President JD Vance was expected to attend the ceremony at the World Trade Center site but rerouted his plans to be with Kirk’s family, officials said.
More than 2,970 people were killed on 9/11, including scores of workers in the struck buildings, passengers in the hijacked planes and first responders who died trying to save others as the tower collapsed. Among the dead were 343 FDNY firefighters, 23 NYPD cops and 37 Port Authority Police Officers.
In the 24 years that followed, the number of people who have died of a 9/11 related illness stemming from the toxins swirling over Ground Zero in the weeks after the attacks has surpassed the number of people who died that day.
An estimated 400,000 people are believed to have been affected by Ground Zero toxins, officials said.
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