New York City – 9/11/02

MAYOR BLOOMBERG:

Again today, we are a nation that mourns. Again today, we take into our hearts and minds those who perished on this site one year ago, and also those who came to toil in the rubble to bring order out of chaos, and those who, through these 12 months, have struggled to help make sense of our despair.

Now we join with our fellow Americans in a moment of silence, led by President George W. Bush on the south lawn of White House in Washington. 139 years ago, President Abraham Lincoln looked out on his nation as he stood on a field that became the largest burial ground. Then, it was Gettysburg; today, it is the World Trade Center where we gather on native soil to share our common creed. Governor George E. Pataki.

GOV. GEORGE PATAKI:

Thank you. "Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation: Conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal."

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that the nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground.

The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here have consecrated it far beyond our poor powers to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work, which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.

It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us, that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion– that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani. (Applause)

FORMER MAYOR RUDOLPH GIULIANI, New York:

Gordon M. Aamoth Junior. Edelmiro Abad. Maria Rose Abad. Andrew Anthony Abate. Vincent Abate. Laurence Christopher Abel.

WOMEN:

(name reading continuing)

(bell tolls)

MARIANNE KEANE, Stepdaughter of Franco Lalama: My name is Marianne Keane. My stepfather Franco was an engineer for the Port Authority. He worked on the 64th floor of the World Trade Center. I read this for his memorial. I don't remember the last time I told him that I loved him. I would give anything to go back to morning of September 11 and tell him how much I appreciate everything he's done. But I think he knows that now. In my eyes, he died a hero. And how much more could you ask for?

There's a quote that pretty much speaks for itself. "You never lose anything, not really. Things, people… they go away, sooner or later. You can't hold them any more than you can hold the moonlight. But if they have touched you, if they are inside you, then they are still yours." Frank, as I look back on these days, I realize how much I'll truly miss you and how much I truly love you. You were the best father I could ask for. I miss you and I hope you didn't hurt too much. Love, Marianne. (Flute playing)

(name reading continuing – silence – bell ringing)

BRITNEY CLARK, Daughter of Benjamin Keefe Clark: My name is Britney Clark. My father was a chef on the 96th floor of the World Trade Center. This poem makes me feel like my daddy is speaking to me.

"I give you this one thought to keep. I am with you still I do not sleep. I am a thousand winds that blow. I am the diamond glints on the snow. I am the sunlight on ripened grain I am the gentle autumn rain. When you awaken in the morning's hush. I am the swift uplifting rush of quiet birds in circled flight. I am the soft stars that shine at night do not think of me as gone I am with you still in each new dawn." ( Applause ) (bell tolls)

(name reading continuing)

MAN AND WOMAN:

May God bless the victims, we love you all. May God bless America. (Applause)

GOV. JAMES McGREEVEY:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness– that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor."

( String quartet playing "Star-Spangled Banner" ) (applause)

SPOKESMAN:

God bless America!