Remembering the Fallen: the United States of America pays tribute

02 Oct 2011

Certain anniversaries have greater significance than others. In marriage terms, the 25th and 50th years are milestones; key birthdays are marked by celebrations, at various ages depending upon the culture and religious background one comes from; and, historical events and constructions are subject to greater focus upon their centenary and every hundred years thereafter.  Deaths, however, are rarely memorable dates on the calendar…unless associated with events that changed the world. Whilst many people recall where they were the moment they heard of the deaths of Kennedy, Sadaam Hussein or Princess Diana, or even the tsunamis of the past decade, few will recall the actual date on which they occurred. 11th September 2001, however, has became a date that the world now associates with one of the world’s most significant terrorist attacks ever committed…and now, in 2011, it seems an opportune anniversary to reflect upon an event, the brutality of which is still hard to believe. The families of the victims will never forget, but the tenth anniversary of the attacks provided the rest of the civilised world to remember, mourn and reflect regardless as to whether one knew a victim or not. Philip Baum travelled to Washington and New York to see how the anniversary was marked.

The memorial services held at Ground Zero in New York, at the Pentagon in Washington DC and in Shanksville were broadcast across the United States and around the globe. Additionally, in the week running up to the tenth anniversary of the atrocities, there were a plethora of documentaries and interviews designed to quench the public’s thirst for knowledge on the attacks themselves and the subsequent response and rescue efforts. All too familiar images, still impossible to comprehend, were once again dominating every news channel – footage of hijacked planes flying into the World Trade Centre, captured from a multitude of angles, and the subsequent collapse of the famous twin towers still seems bizarrely addictive.

Within the industry, the impact of the events of that fateful day provides us with a daily challenge, yet the anniversary provided an opportunity for us to reconnect with the human aspect of the story. It served as a reminder of the impact that one failure can have and of the gravity of the task at hand.

There are different ways of remembering, each one suiting different personality types. Some people resort to quiet prayer and reflection, whilst others prefer the grandstand media events, complete with Presidential pomp and ceremony. Given the impact that 11th September 2001 has had on my professional life, I opted to mark the milestone by reviewing some of the exhibitions memorialising that day and to serve as a lesson to “never forget”.

Washington DC

The Smithsonian is the world’s largest museum and research complex. It includes the Air and Space Museum, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden and the National Museum of American History. The latter houses a mixture of permanent and temporary exhibits including the Star-Spangled Banner, the flag that inspired the national anthem, George Washington’s uniform and Dorothy’s ruby slippers from the Wizard of Oz. The museum usually focuses on the positive aspect of the nation’s history, yet to mark the tenth anniversary of the attacks, it hosted a special exhibition entitled “September 11: Remembrance and Reflection”.

The exhibition was only open for 9 days (3rd – 11th September 2011), and provided visitors an opportunity to view artefacts recovered from the three crash sites. Displayed openly on tables, and with staff on hand to answer any questions, each item seemed to have its own poignancy – a flight attendant call button from flight UA 93, a door from a crushed fire department truck from New York, the mobile phone used by Rudolph Giuliani, a clock frozen in time at 9.32 recovered from the Pentagon’s helipad fire station. The exhibition also included a table dedicated to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), with acquisitions demonstrating how American lives have changed over the past decade.

The Museum was designated by Congress as the official repository of 11th September materials in 2002 and the collection is still growing. There were only 50 items on display, but the museum is now home to more than 1,000 photographs, 300 objects, 15,000 comment cards (from visitors to the Museum’s exhibition September 11: Bearing Witness to History, which opened on the first anniversary of the attacks).

Ground Zero

Whilst the attacks were a national tragedy, no city felt it more than New York given the indelible images of the iconic towers collapsing and the associated huge loss of life incurred. In the years since, many visitors to the Big Apple have felt it their duty to visit Ground Zero, where the World Trade Centre once stood, as act of pilgrimage. There are two semi-permanent exhibitions at the site: the 9/11 Memorial Preview site and the Person to Person Tribute World Trade Centre Visitor Centre.

The 9/11 Memorial Preview Site opened on 26th August 2009, as a space for visitors to Ground Zero to learn about the plans for and progress of the 9/11 Memorial and Museum currently being built and to view images of the construction progress and participate in the creation of the Museum by sharing their 9/11 stories. The Memorial and Museum together occupy half of the 16-acre World Trade Centre site. The museum itself is set to open in 2012, but the tenth anniversary of the attacks marked the official opening of the stunning memorial.

The Memorial consists of two enormous pools that rest in the original footprints of the Twin Towers. Each pool is approximately one acre in size with 30-foot waterfalls surrounding them on all sides. The names of 2,983 victims of the attacks of both 11th September 2001 and of the previous bombing on 26th February 1993 are listed on bronze parapets surrounding the pools. Notably missing are the names of the 19 hijackers.

The families of those who died were allowed access to the memorial for the first time on 11th September 2011, with it being formally open to the general public the following day. It is nowadays a place of beauty rather than horror and of tranquillity rather than the frenzied life more typically associated with lower Manhattan.

The Person to Person Tribute WTC Visitor Centre enables visitors to Ground Zero to connect with the site by means of facilitated walking tours conducted by survivors of the attacks, as well as providing an impressive exhibition commemorating the fallen. Few will be failed to be moved by the boarding pass recovered from the UA 93 crash site or many of the personal ads that were posted around Ground Zero after the towers had fallen….including from a child waiting for a parent to come home. The Centre is a project of the September 11th Families’ Association, and it expands upon its mission to unite and support victims of terrorism by incorporating the entire 9/11 community – families, survivors, residents, rescue workers and volunteers.

The Tribute Centre is located in the former Liberty Deli at 120 Liberty Street, directly across from Ground Zero. In the aftermath of the attacks, the deli became a station where meals were served to rescuers often by celebrities who came to volunteer and give the tired workers a boost. Later, the deli became a distribution point for equipment like gloves, socks, respirators, eye drops and tools.

It was a Desiree Bouchat that took me around the Ground Zero site. Bouchat was (and still is) an employee of Aon on 11th September 2001 and was at her desk on the 101st floor of the South Tower when the American Airlines flight AA 11 crashed into the North Tower. She was one of the few survivors from the upper floors of the building, primarily because she did not actually hear the instructions for employees in the South Tower to return to their desks. Bouchat, who lost many of her friends and colleagues when the tower eventually collapsed, leads around three tours a month and finds them to be quite therapeutic, despite the emotionally draining nature of telling the tale. In a performing tribute to the day, Bouchat described her recollection: “When the plane hit the North Tower this is what I heard, boom, nothing louder, just boom. The lights flickered and my computer went off and then back on.  People started to joke that we forgot to pay the utility bill again. Outside burnt paper started swirling around and my phone rang. A friend of mine at 7 WTC called to ask me if I was okay. I said, “yes, why?”

American Express Memorial

One of the most beautiful memorials to the fallen is “Eleven Tears”, designed by Ken Smith, located at American Express’ world headquarters which is across the street from the World Trade Centre site. A 600-pound, tear-shaped Brazilian quartz, carved with 11 sides (one side for each American Express employee lost), is suspended at the centre of the memorial. The quartz hangs from 11 thin cables over the center of an eleven sided black granite pool. The names of the victims are inscribed on the sides of the pool, along with a few words that describe the person which had been chosen by their family. Drops of water gently fall like tears over those inscriptions, the ripples of which intersect, thereby linking all the American Express victims to each other.

Fire Department of New York Memorial

The FDNY Memorial Wall is located at the Engine 10, Ladder 10 firehouse, on the corner of Greenwich and Liberty streets. The fifty-six foot long bronze wall was unveiled in 2006 by representatives from the law firm Holland & Knight as a tribute to the 343 members of the Fire Department of New York who died and dedicated to one of the firm’s partners, volunteer firefighter Glenn J. Winuk. The wall depicts the equipment and tactics used on 11th September 2001 and contains the names of every active member of the FDNY who perished in the collapse of the Towers.

Ground Zero Museum Workshop

Located on 14th Street, quite some way away from Ground Zero itself, is the Ground Zero Museum Workshop. At the time of writing the museum is rated 4th (out of 652) best attraction in New York City on Tripadvisor.com, which is quite impressive given its size and sombre exhibits.

The museum is in a single room on the second floor of a building in the “Meat-Packing District” and was put together by Gary Marlon Suson, who was the official photographer for the Uniformed Firefighters Association at Ground Zero during the recovery efforts at the World Trade Centre site. The museum hosts small groups on two hour visits during which visitors can listen to an audio guide explain the history behind each of Suson’s dramatic photographs. Along with the photographic exhibits are artefacts recovered from Ground Zero, including a newspaper from the PATH train crushed beneath the WTC and items that had presumably been for sale at the Windows of the World Gift Shop.

Suson had spent six days per week and approximately 17 hours per day “living” at Ground Zero, where he documented every phase of the ‘Recovery’….all without a salary. He was allowed access to all areas at Ground Zero and given strict guidelines, which included:

• Not to release any of the images until the Recovery was over
• Not to shoot images of human remains, and
• To share future proceeds with 9/11 charities.

Suson had actually been inspired to put the museum together following a visit to Anne Frank’s House in Amsterdam. It is certainly well worth a visit.

Frank Schramm

Not all the exhibitions commemorating the attacks were focussed on the victims. On 52nd Street in the Steven Spielberg Gallery at the Paley Center for Media, an exhibition of photographer Frank Schramm’s work was on display entitled “In Shock: Reporting Live from Ground Zero”

Schramm had spent the weeks following the attacks photographing the world’s media as they set up camp at West Side Highway to report on the recovery effort. He had captured their emotions both before and after they had been on air…those moments out of the public eye where they had to contemplate the enormity of the news they were breaking to their viewers. The images taken highlight an emphasis on formality and lighting that contrasts with the desolation surrounding the journalists and their crews.

Sheryl Oring

An outdoor exhibit with a difference was “Collective Memory” by Sheryl Oring which took place for three days in Bryant Park.  2,753 chairs were set up, facing south (in the direction of where the World Trade Centre would have stood) on the grass representing all those who lost their lives in the World Trade Centre. Additionally a pool of typists was drafted in – each in 1950’s dress and using old-fashioned typewriters and carbon paper – to record the general public’s answers to the question “What would you like the world to remember about 9/11?” The answers were recorded and are to appear online.

11th September 2011

On the morning of 11th September 2011, New Yorkers and visitors alike were left with a strange dilemma. Unless they had lost somebody in the attacks, they had to decide whether to watch the memorial services taking place at Ground Zero, at the Pentagon and in Shanksville on television in the privacy of their own homes and hotel rooms or whether to acknowledge the solemnity of the day by attending religious services or simply gathering in some public place – despite the terrorist threat – to mark the event as a community.

In Times Square, the advertisements still flickered. A crowd gathered, Starbucks coffee in hand, to watch the televised coverage whilst listening to the sound from a radio (completely out of sync with the television images) in one of the police cars.

Mounted police officers, overseas emergency service workers in town to empathise, tourists who had inadvertently arranged to be in New York for the weekend, journalists gauging opinion, joggers and other members of the general public gazed up at the screen and stood in silence each time there was a minute’s silence being more formally observed down the road at Ground Zero.

Many other people simply went about their normal duties. The shops were still open and life carried on. Yes, the city was about as quiet as I’d ever seen it, but there was also a sense that it was time to move on. I took a cab to JFK and the airport was surprisingly busy…a far cry from the few days post-9/11 when few people took to the skies. Ichecked in and underwent a series of security processes that were a direct outcome of the events that had taken place ten years beforehand. On board, I had a quick glance around the cabin just to reassure myself…but then I always do!—

 

 

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