9/11 memorial held in Jersey City
JERSEY CITY, N.J. - Political leaders and the community gathered Monday to remember residents who lost their lives on that tragic day.
They came to the Jersey City waterfront to pay their respects to 39 residents from this city killed when terrorists attacked the twin towers on 9/11.
A moment of silence was held, and then the reading of the names of the 39 victims.
"Gracious God, the terrible events on this day 22 years ago forever changed our understanding of what it means to be safe and free," Father Thomas Quinn of St. Michael's Church said.
- Related: Complete 9/11 coverage
"The Egyptian pharaohs knew that if you kept saying their names, they lived forever and to me this is what it's all about," Jersey City resident Barbara Smith said.
Smith comes every anniversary. She lost her friend on that fateful day.
"She was on the 94th, I guess the ground zero of Ground Zero, and no one could believe what was happening," Smith said.
Twenty two years ago, Jersey City's waterfront became a triage center for those fleeing the attacks.
"I was part of that. I was working in Goldman Sachs in Lower Manhattan, and you could feel the building shake, and I was one of the people on the ferries/ I was in the middle of the Hudson when the tower collapsed, and I came here," Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop said.
"I was with the Jersey City Police Department as folks came across the river on ferries, one after another. I see my brothers of the police department and fire department, many of them were here on that day, are here today to pay tribute to the families," Graig Guy said.
"To all the first responders - without you more would have perished," New Jersey State Assemblywoman Angela McKnight said.
Fulop said every year crowds coming to the memorial service dwindle, but that city officials want to make sure no one ever forgets what happened on Sept. 11, 2001.
A total of 750 New Jersey residents lost their lives on 9/11.
