Ten years ago on September 11, 2001, New York City’s World Trade Center twin towers were destroyed in a coordinated series of terrorist attacks in the United States resulting in the deaths of nearly 3,000 people.
A decade on, the stories of survivors and grieving friends and families of the dead are still haunting and overwhelmingly sad. US President Obama and the first lady Michelle Obama attended memorial services featuring prayers, testimonials and moments of silence at the three sites where the planes went down. President Obama delivered a tribute to those mourning their loved ones: “Despite heartache that never goes away, you’ve done what your loved ones would have wanted. You’ve learned to live and laugh and love again.”
At Ground Zero the names of the dead were read by victims wives and husbands, fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers and children. Nine year old Nicholas Gorki paid tribute to the father he never met, Sebastian Gorki, who died at the World Trade Center while his wife was still pregnant: “You gave me the gift of life and I wish you could be here to enjoy it with me.”
Here are some more tributes that took place yesterday to pay respects to the lives lost and to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
Paul Simon performed a quiet version of “The Sound Of Silence” at Ground Zero.
Lady Gaga, Fran Drescher, Pauly D, Nas, Julianne Hough and Drake Bell joined the 9/11 Tribute Movement, “I Will”, by taking part in a PSA encouraging people to do something positive to remember the victims – a good deed, or an act of service. Video messages of support have been posted by Kevin Spacey, Nick Cannon and Aisha Taylor.
Beyonce released the video for her song “I Was There” to honour the victims.
Spike Lee enlisted 150 New York City school children to hit up four of the city’s firehouses to say thanks to some of the heroes of Sep 11 with a song.
Lastly, via the LA Times, here’s a video montage of the Twin Towers’ prolific history of movie cameos. The creator, Dan Meth, writes: “From 1969 to 2001, the Twin Towers made countless cameos in Hollywood films. Sometimes featured prominently in the foreground, sometimes lurking in the distance. This montage celebrates the towers’ all-too-short film career with songs that capture the passing decades. Man, I miss them.” Pretty awesome.
