We made a visit to the 9/11 Memorial. Before September 11, 2001, the twin towers at World Trade Center dominated the New York City skyline. Today a single tower, the Freedom Tower (1776 feet/541 meters), stands above all the others. World Trade Center has been transformed with new structures like the Freedom Tower, The Oculus as the entrance to the Fulton Street train station, and the 9/11 Memorial and Museum.
It took 10 years to create the 9/11 Memorial. The visit experience is profoundly sad with so many first-person accounts, relics of people and buildings, and the remains of the first responder's equipment. While I lived through this horrendous episode, I was also working. I was the investigator in a trial and my husband was the prosecutor which meant that so much of the news happened on the periphery of my consciousness because we were "cogs in the wheel of justice" as the judge explained to the courtroom.
Early that morning as we were getting ready to drive to Sacramento for another day of trial, my mother called me and said "turn on the TV." I saw smoke coming out of the North Tower and as I watched, I saw a plane hit the South Tower. My experience wasn't unusual. A friend or parent calling to say "turn on the TV" was how many of us first learned about the attack according to quotes at the memorial.
Photos l-r: Freedom Tower, South Tower Memorial Pool, and detail of names of those who died in the attack. The 9/11 Museum stands in the distance.
The 9/11 Memorial includes the footprint of the North and South Towers. Both have water running into the void and around the footprint are the names of those who died in the attack. Some first responder names have the blue stripe law-enforcement flag. Port Authority Captain Kathy Mazza was one of three women who gave her life saving others.
"In the lobby of the North Tower Mazza helped people evacuate the building purportedly using her gun to shoot out a large plate-glass window so that more people could escape to safety. She and several colleagues were carrying a woman in an evacuation chair out of the building when the North Tower collapsed."
"On 9/11 and in the weeks and months following the attacks, an army of tens of thousands of firefighters, police officers, construction workers, search-and-rescue dogs, volunteers and more converged at the World Trade Center site to aid in search and rescue and ultimately recovery efforts at Ground Zero. Women made significant contributions to every aspect of those efforts." 911Memorial
Photos l-r: Times the planes hit the Twin Towers, the Last Column and the Slurry Wall, Wall Art by New Mexico artist Tom Joyce
The Last Column: "As the recovery at the World Trade Center site neared completion, one piece of steel was chosen to mark the occasion symbolically. Designated the Last Column, it was removed from the site in a solemn ceremony. In the weeks that preceded its departure, recovery workers, first responders, volunteers, and victims' relatives signed the column and affixed to it memorial messages, photographs, and other tributes."
The Slurry wall was built to hold back the Hudson River before construction of the World Trade Center could begin in 1966. The wall was not breached on 9/11. A portion of the original wall is preserved in the museum.
Artist Tom Joyce forged pieces of recovered World Trade Center steel into letters for this quotation by Roman poet Virgil.
The official final death toll of those who died on September 11, 2001, was set at 2, 977 people not including the 19 terrorists. At the World Trade Center in NYC 2,753 people died (including first responders), at the Pentagon in Arlington, VA, 184 died, and outside Shanksville, PA, 40 people died. These figures do not reflect the deaths of those who have died subsequently due to respiratory and other ailments contracted and manifested in the months during the recovery and clean-up efforts.
In our prior visits, I never wanted to visit Ground Zero because of the sadness I knew I would feel. I solemnly remember the events but I don't want to end this post with only sadness. New York City has so much energy, tolerance, and hope. We had an absolutely great time in New York City so I end this post with some of the places and people that delighted my eye.
Next: Subway to JFK and then home.
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