Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\tUS to commemorate 9\/11 as its aftermath extends and evolves<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Americans are commemorating 9\/11 with mournful ceremonies, volunteering, appeals to \u201cnever forget\u201d and rising attention to the terror attacks\u2019 extended toll on responders.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n
The father is staying home on the anniversary for the first time this year because he doesn\u2019t want to take chances with the coronavirus after a prior illness. But he feels others should have the option of reciting the names of the dead on the memorial plaza, instead of listening to a recording.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Memorial leaders said they wanted to avoid close contact among readers, who are usually paired at the podium. But to Riches, a retired fire battalion chief and frequent critic of the memorial organization, the decision sounds like an excuse for sidelining the families’ role in commemorating 9\/11.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI wish they wouldn\u2019t forget, but they\u2019re trying to,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Anthoula Katsimatides sees the differences this year as an effort to ensure victims’ relatives feel comfortable attending \u2014 including her mother, who hasn\u2019t left home since March because health issues make her especially worried about the virus. But she is determined to go in honor of her son John, a bond trader, her daughter said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While many events have been called off this year, \u201cthis wasn\u2019t canceled. It\u2019s just been changed in such a way where we still get to pay tribute to our loved ones in a respectful and safe way,\u201d said Katsimatides, who\u2019s on the memorial board. She says the change wasn\u2019t motivated by anything except a public health emergency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWho expected COVID-19? … It was completely unforeseen. As was 9\/11,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\nIn this Sept. 10, 2019, file photo, visitors to the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pa., participate in a sunset memorial service as the nation prepares to mark the 18th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. (Gene J. Puskar\/AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nThis year\u2019s plans have been a balancing act at the sites where hijacked planes piloted by al-Qaida terrorists crashed on Sept. 11, 2001: New York, the Pentagon and a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Flight 93 memorial near Shanksville is trimming its usual 90-minute ceremony, partly by eliminating musical interludes. Memorial spokeswoman Katherine Cordek said victims’ names would be read, but by one person instead of multiple family members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Military leaders will conduct the Pentagon\u2019s ceremony without victims’ families in attendance, and their loved ones’ names will be recited by a recording, rather than readers on-site. Victims’ relatives can visit the Pentagon\u2019s memorial in small groups later Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In New York \u2014 where the nation\u2019s deadliest coronavirus spike happened early this spring but has since been fairly well contained \u2014 leaders of the National Sept. 11 Memorial & Museum said their plan for a no-reading ceremony would honor both virus precautions and 9\/11 families’ attachment to being at ground zero on the anniversary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But another 9\/11-related organization, the Stephen Stiller Tunnel to Towers Foundation, quickly arranged its own simultaneous ceremony a few blocks away, saying victims’ relatives could recite names while keeping a safe distance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe need to keep letting America know what happened 19 years ago. And they need to see that emotion of the day, not a recording,\u201d says chairman Frank Siller. He says he may attend both observances to honor the brother he lost, firefighter Stephen.<\/p>\n\n\n\nIn this Sept. 11, 2017, file photo, the Tribute in Light illuminates in the sky above the Lower Manhattan area of New York, as seen from across the Hudson River in Jersey City, N.J. (Jason DeCrow\/AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nMeanwhile, Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro told current firefighters in a memo last month that the department \u201cstrongly recommends\u201d members not participate in 9\/11 observances. The department did hold a limited-attendance ceremony Wednesday to add names to a memorial wall recognizing members who died after exposure to toxins unleashed in the wreckage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tensions over anniversary plans flared anew when the memorial announced last month it was nixing the Tribute in Light, twin blue beams that shine into the night sky over lower Manhattan. While there\u2019s no official gathering to view the lights, the memorial cited virus risks to the installation crew.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The cancellation outraged some victims’ relatives, police and fire unions and politicians, who noted that construction sites around the city were deemed safe to reopen months ago. After the Tunnel to Towers foundation said it would organize the display on its own, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and former Mayor Mike Bloomberg, the memorial\u2019s billionaire chairman, stepped in to keep the memorial-sponsored lights on. (Tunnel to Towers is now stationing lights at the Flight 93 memorial and the Pentagon.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Memorial President Alice Greenwald later said the organization \u201cshould have approached this issue differently.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nA flower is placed on a name at the 9\/11 memorial plaza on the first day it reopened after closing for three months due to the coronavirus on on July 4, 2020, in New York City. (Spencer Platt\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nStill, the memorial\u2019s moves fanned mistrust among some 9\/11 victims’ relatives who wonder how long the name-reading and other observances will continue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Katismatides, the board member, foresees the ceremony returning to normal next year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Debra Epps has been to the ground zero ceremony every year. She said it means a lot to her to read names and add a few words in tribute to her brother Christopher, an accountant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, she thinks the memorial was right to forgo the live name-reading this year. The virus has her concerned enough that she\u2019s not planning to attend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt really is a hard decision to make, but I know that we\u2019re still in this pandemic,\u201d said Epps, who works in health care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI will remember my brother, no matter what,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump participate in a moment of silence honoring the victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, on the South Lawn of the White House, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2019, in Washington. (Evan Vucci\/AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li>Flowers rest on a bench bearing a name in memory of retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Gary Smith before a ceremony in observance of the 18th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks at the Pentagon in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2019. (Patrick Semansky\/AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li>President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump place a wreath and will participate in a moment of silence honoring the victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2019, at the Pentagon. (Evan Vucci\/AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li>A U.S. flag hanging from a steel girder, damaged in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center, blows in the breeze at a memorial in Jersey City, N.J., Sept. 11, 2019, as the sun rises behind One World Trade Center building and the re-developed area where the Twin Towers of World Trade Center once stood in New York City on the 18th anniversary of the attacks. (J. David Ake\/AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li>New York City firefighters take a position in front of a memorial on the side of a firehouse adjacent to One World Trade Center and the 9\/11 Memorial site during ceremonies commemorating the 18th anniversary of the 9\/11 terrorist attacks in New York on Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2019. (Craig Ruttle\/AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li>A man holds a photo of a victim during a ceremony marking the 18th anniversary of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, at the National September 11 Memorial, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2019, in New York. (Mark Lennihan\/AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li>People walk past an American flag at the start of a work day, at the Oculus, part of the World Trade Center transportation hub in New York, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2019, on the 18th anniversary of 9\/11 terrorist attacks. (Wong Maye-E\/AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li>A photograph of fallen firefighter Leon Smith, Jr. is held up during a ceremony marking the 18th anniversary of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 at the National September 11 Memorial, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2019 in New York. (Mark Lennihan\/AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li>The names are read of victims of the Sept. 11 attacks during a ceremony marking the 18th anniversary at the National September 11 Memorial, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2019 in New York. (Mark Lennihan\/AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li>A woman pays respects at the Wall of Names at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pa. after a Service of Remembrance Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2019, as the nation marks the 18th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The Wall of Names honor the 40 people killed in the crash of Flight 93. (Gene J. Puskar\/AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/a> <\/a> <\/a>