USA: Families arriving at New York City's sixth 9/11 observance, emphasize that the pain of losing loved ones is still fresh

It's been six years since the World Trade Center attack in New York City, but families arriving at a 9/11 commemoration ceremony emphasize that the pain of that day and the loss of loved ones is still as vivid and hurtful as it was at the beginning. The sixth anniversary of the September 11 World Trade Center (WTC) attack dawned drizzly and dark in New York City, with family members arriving at the main commemoration ceremony with umbrellas but also flowers in hand. This is the first year that the city's 9/11 observance was not held directly at the WTC site, but at a small park nearby. As family members walked towards the ceremony site, they stopped to talk about how they were feeling six years after losing loved ones. "It's almost the same like the first day. For us, for our family, for everybody that lost a family over here as yesterday, nothing changed," said Hector Garcia, who lost his daughter Marlyn Garcia on 9/11. Marlyn worked on the 100th floor of one of the WTC towers and was also a student studying international justice. "I come seeking peace but I think until the mayor and the memorial foundation listen to the families and what's the right way of remembering those who were killed, at that time I'll have peace and and I will know that my sister is being appropriately remembered," said Patricia Reilly, who lost her sister Lorraine Lee on 9/11. Lee was thirty seven and worked with a consulting company on the 101st floor of the second WTC tower. David Jones, who lost his brother Tyrone May in the terrorist attack said it still feels like it happened yesterday "It's just like it happened yesterday, I still feel just jittery and just one day, maybe he'll show up, but I know it's never going to happen. So, I come down here to pay my respects to my brother, because he was a good guy." Jones said. Reilly along with many other family members feel that the process of building an appropriate memorial for 9/11 victims at the World Trade Center is taking much too long. But Sam Puli, the retired chief of the Willis Springs Department in Illinois who did recovery work at the WTC site and also lost a cousin there, pointed out that the process of making different family members agree on an appropriate memorial was a difficult one and added to the building time. "There's going to be something built at this site. The memorial I saw, the two reflecting poles kind of reflect what we've been coming to every year, there's been two poles here. I'm happy with the process, certainly it's slower than most, but trying to get all people to agree to what would be best, is sometimes very very difficult." The commemoration ceremony began at 8:40 a.m. and was expected to go on for approximately four hours.

ITN Source | September 11, 2007

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