'I've carried you with me.' Relatives of 9/11 victims reflect on missed weddings, birthdays, other milestones

A quarter-century after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the pain and anger were still raw on Friday during ceremonies at the World Trade Center site, as relatives of more than 2,700 victims broke down, prayed for loved ones and even called for another investigation into the biggest attacks on American soil.

As all four living former U.S. presidents and other dignitaries solemnly observed the 25th anniversary services, relatives slowly read the list of the 2,753 victims one-by-one and reflected on missed weddings, birthdays and other milestones.

They relived the anguish that for many still seemed as fresh as that picturesque September day that suddenly changed the city, the nation and the world forever when al-Qaida terrorists flew airplanes into the Twin Towers and the Pentagon. A fourth plane crashed in Pennsylvania when passengers overtook terrorists planning to strike the White House.

At the Ground Zero ceremony, NYPD Det. Jillian Suarez, who was 9 when her father, NYPD officer Ramon Suarez, was killed, choked up as she remembered him. He was one of 23 NYPD officers who died on 9/11. Some 343 FDNY members were killed.

"Dad, we miss you, we love you," Suarez said, her voice shaking. "I hope I’m making you proud. I’ve carried you with me throughout every accomplishment."

She’s getting married soon, she said, and longs for her dad to walk her down the aisle.

"I will always be your little girl," she said.

Several of those who read the names were children who weren’t born yet or were too young to remember the attacks. Others lost a grandparent they never met.

Moments of silence

In the crowd, relatives of victims held signs aloft with their photographs and names. At 8:46 a.m., a single bell rang to mark the time American Airlines Flight 11 struck the north tower of the World Trade Center. During the moment of silence, the only sound heard was the rushing waterfalls of the reflective pools at the memorial.

A seventh bell was new this year and honored the first responders who have died since the attacks from 9/11-related illnesses.

The five-hour ceremony was one of hundreds across the nation, including at the Pentagon, where President Donald Trump said, "Time has not dimmed the horror of that day."

On Long Island, mourners gathered at a sunrise service at the beach in Point Lookout, from where 25 years ago the Twin Towers could be seen burning. On Friday, before sunrise, twin beams of light were visible in Manhattan in the spot where the towers once stood.

A total of 497 Long Islanders died in the attack.

At the National September 11 Memorial & Museum ceremony in Manhattan, Bayville resident James Giaccone’s anger was still palpable.

He spoke poignantly of his brother — Joseph Michael Giaccone — one of 658 Cantor Fitzgerald employees killed in the attacks on the Twin Towers.

“The pain is still there,” he said in remarks from the stage after he finished reading his assigned names. “The void in my family will never be completely healed. 'What could have been' still makes me angry. He should have been holding his two beautiful grandchildren right now.”

But the annual ritual brings him comfort, he said.

“This ceremony is essential,” he said. “He is here. And he is present. And he is never forgotten.”

People from all over the world

The ceremony attracted firefighters from around the country and the world — from Anaheim, California, to Australia, the Netherlands, Belgium and France.

Jeff Duran, a firefighter from Aurora, Colorado, said he came “to remember the heroes, the people who were lost.”

Leonie Cafaxe, one of 13 firefighters who traveled from Senas, France, said, “There is a brotherhood and sisterhood of firefighters around the world.”

Amid the mourning, there were occasional moments of levity, such as when one relative of a victim recalled how the Knicks won the NBA championship in the spring — “Knicks in five.”

The cellist Yo-Yo Ma played throughout the ceremony.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who grew up in Jericho, wiped away a tear at the memorial Friday, but also smiled as he looked fondly at the names of Cantor Fitzgerald employees inscribed on the parapets that ring the footprints of the fallen towers.

Lutnick was the CEO of the investment firm when the attack killed 658 of its 960 employees. He survived because he was taking his son to school. His brother, Gary Lutnick, was among those killed.

'He died a hero'

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman walked the grounds of the memorial as he remembered his nephew, Tommy Jurgens, 26, of Valley Stream, who was killed in the collapse of the south tower.

Jurgens was an Army medic and a volunteer Nassau firefighter who had gone to work as a court officer. He was stationed a few blocks away, but rushed over to the towers to help. His remains were never recovered, only his gun and badge.

“He could have had children, he could have had a great career,” Blakeman said. “Knowing my nephew Tommy the way I did, he died the way he would have wanted to die ... he died a hero.”

Blakeman had called on people at the ceremony to turn their backs on New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who had faced anti-Muslim calls not to attend. The city’s first Muslim mayor attended anyway, and on Friday released a prerecorded video message in which he called the attacks "a horrific act of terror."

"We remember 9/11 as the darkest day in our city's history. But we also remember what so many New Yorkers did in that darkness," he said, from donating blood and opening their homes to those who couldn't get home, to carrying colleagues down the Twin Towers stairs and then returning inside to help more.

Mamdani also recognized those who died in the years since from having breathed in toxic air at Ground Zero.

Sonia Agron, 69, said she and her husband, Jose Agron, 76, of the Bronx, both contracted illnesses from working during the recovery effort.

"Neither one of us knew we were sick until 10 years later, and it started with the cancer," Agron said.

Jose Agron, a former NYPD officer still battling cancer, was unable to attend Friday's ceremony, his wife said.

Agron said the moment of silence will help recognize those sickened from working at Ground Zero, when the health dangers were not disclosed.

"It's heartbreaking because it took 25 years for people to recognize that, but I have three beautiful granddaughters, and one day they're going to hear that bell in honor of my husband," she said. "That hurts, but we got something. We got some recognition.”

Casting blame

Traditionally, there are no political speeches at the commemoration. But two relatives of separate victims veered from the reading of the names to deliver forceful political messages as they cast blame on Saudi Arabia for the attacks and accused U.S. officials of covering it up.

One, Terry Strada, is an official with 9/11 Families United, an organization that has tried to pursue legal action against the Saudi government. Her husband was killed in the attack.

“My husband, Tom Strada, you are missed more with each year that passes. But how can it be 25 years and still we have no justice for the role that Saudi Arabia played in your murder?” she said, prompting some in the crowd to cheer, clap or whistle.

 “For 25 years administration after administration, including leaders in front of us here today, chose to protect the Saudis instead of standing with the 9/11 families,” she said. “It has been one betrayal after another.”

“President Trump can still change that: tell the Saudis to stop lying,” she added. 

Strada thanked Vice President JD Vance for attending the memorial and said, “Please carry that message back. Stand with the families, stand with survivors, stand with Americans.”

Saudi Arabia has denied any involvement in the attack.

 The attacks gave away to a wave of conspiracies, almost from the moment the buildings collapsed. Some of the most trafficked unproven allegations include that the buildings collapsed due to a controlled demolition, rather than structural failure from the fire and the impact of the crashes. Others speculated that the attacks were an inside job, while others floated that other countries involved have escaped justice.

A nephew of Lisa Marie Terry, a vice president of Marsh & McLennan who died in the attack, later said from the stage: “For 25 years, the deep state has hidden the truth about what happened that day 25 years ago.”

“President Trump, you’re our last hope,” he said. “Release the unredacted files that implicate Saudi Arabia while what’s left of the victims’ families are still alive.” 

A job well done

Beyond the political debates, Madeline Fusco, 17, of Farmingdale, was focused on her role reading the names of 20 or so victims, including her grandfather. She was born after FDNY Lt. Robert Wallace was killed in the attack. She lamented never having met him.

She was selected through a lottery her mother had entered and had been practicing how to pronounce each name. The 9/11 memorial sent her an audio guide and then, in a museum auditorium, she had practiced with her reading partner, with whom she’d alternate saying the names.

Fusco said she wasn’t truly nervous until she arrived Friday morning at the memorial.

“It felt more real, and then I was like, ‘oh, I’m really doing this,’ and then I was standing there waiting for the two guys before us to finish, and I was like, ‘oh, wow, we’re really doing this,’” she said.

“And then I got up there, and I did it, and I was nervous, but it was OK, because they said I did good.”

With The Associated Press