Victims' families and other New Yorkers on Saturday gathered at Ground Zero to mark the third anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks that claimed more than 2700 lives. 

"Today, again we meet in great sadness," New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said as the memorial ceremony began. "It has been said that a child who loses a parent is an orphan. A man who loses his wife is a widower. A woman who loses her husband is a widow. There is no name for a parent who loses a child, for there are no words to describe this pain."

With quavering voices, parents and grandparents of the 2,749 victims are reading each name aloud. Many tried very hard to hold back their tears and were choking up as they added poignant personal messages when they reached the names of their own loved ones. Other family members embraced each other and dried tears.

Soft violin music played in the background as the families descended the long ramp into the site. Two square reflecting pools set up for the ceremony slowly filled up with flowers and other mementos left by the families. As construction proceeds, this will likely be the last time most of the relatives stand on the bedrock, which many of them consider sacred ground because so few remains were recovered.

The recitation paused for four moments of silence, at the time hijacked airliners came out of the clear blue sky and slammed into each of the twin towers and the time they fell, buckling under hellish fires.

Bloomberg, former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, Governor George Pataki and New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevy each delivered readings. Pataki quoted former President Dwight Eisenhower's description of the losses of World War II: "There's no tragedy in life like the death of a child. Things never get back to the way they were."

The ceremony will conclude with trumpeters from the police and fire departments performing "Taps."

Meanwhile, the Port Authority is holding its annual service at noon. The first two anniversaries it was held uptown in Riverside Church, but this year it moved downtown to St. Peter's Church. Throughout the day, the church will toll a massive bell 3,000 times in honor of the victims, once every 10 seconds.

On Staten Island, a memorial to the borough's victims will be dedicated on the waterfront in the evening. The memorial features two tall, windswept structures resembling postcards with plaques featuring the silhouette and information about each victim.

At sundown, the "Tribute in Light", two beams directed skyward to form a ghost-like image of the twin towers, will shine for the night.

(Xinhua News Agency September 12, 2004)