'I Miss You So Much': 9/11 Kids Tell of Heartache
Some had to stand on tiptoe to peer over the podium. Others pulled at the stiff collars of their unfamiliar suits. But the children of 9/11 victims stood proud as they shared heart wrenching ordeals.
They told of their loss, of the responsibility suddenly thrust on their young shoulders, of the simple daily things most children take for granted that they will never share with their lost mother or father.
"I have tried to teach my brother all the things my father taught me. How to catch a baseball, how to ride a bike and to work hard in school," said Peter Negron, 21, whose dad, also called Peter, died at the World Trade Center.
Life has now partly moved on for the young Peter who said that at the 2003 memorial to those who died in the September 11, 2001 attacks, he had read a poem "about how bad I wanted to cry."
Now he is in college, and training to be a forensic scientist, he told the crowd gathered for Sunday's emotional remembrance at Ground Zone as he read out his father's name just steps from where he died.
But the 9/11 attacks robbed Peter Negron forever of countless moments he could have shared with his dad.
"I wish my dad had been there to teach me how to drive, ask a girl out on a date, and see me graduate from high school and 100 other things I can't even begin to name ... I miss you so much, dad."
Twelve-year-old Patricia Smith was only a toddler when her policewoman mother, Moira Smith, was among the rescue crews who rushed to the Twin Towers after they were struck by two planes hijacked by Al-Qaeda militants.
"She ran into the towers time and time again to save as many people as she possibly could," her husband Jim Smith, also a police officer, told the ceremony.
"She sacrificed all that she had and all the richness of life that still lay in front of her in order to just save one more person," he said, before adding proudly their daughter was "the very picture of her mother."
"Mom, I am proud to be your daughter. You will always be my hero and the pride of New York City," Patricia said with simple poise and elegance.
Nicholas Gorski paid tribute to "My father, Sebastian Gorski, who I never met because I was in my mom's belly."
"I love you, father. I love you for the idea of having me. You gave me the gift of life and I wish you could be here to enjoy it with me."
After reading out several names, two young boys said "We love you dad" in unison, then kissed their fingers and thrust them toward the heavens.
Other youngsters honored missing uncles, and other family members, many of whom they can barely remember and will never get the chance to know.
Vice President Joe Biden told families at a ceremony at the Pentagon that their loved ones were "already heroes to you" before September 11.
"They were the father that tucked you in at night. They were the wife who knew your fears before even before you expressed them," he said, choking up with emotion.
"They were the brother who lifted you up. They were the daughter who made you laugh, and the son who made you proud."
And he paid tribute to the children who experienced the attacks who "as they came of age, they showed up -- they showed up to fight for their country, and they're still showing up."
Some 2.8 million youngsters had joined the military since the attacks and said this 9/11 generation had become "the finest group of warriors the world has ever known," he said.
Back at Ground Zero, many children joined in as people started pulling out pieces of paper and rubbing their relative's name etched onto the new memorial.
On the exact footprints where the Twin Towers once stood are two huge black square fountains. Water cascades down the sides into deep pits, which are rimmed with the names of all the 9/11 victims written in bronze.
Source: Agence France Presse
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