Mourners gathered in Lower Manhattan and across New York City on Wednesday to commemorate the nearly 3,000 people who died in the Sept. 11 attacks 23 years ago and the many who have died from related illnesses since.
Brandon Remouns, 40, was among those who headed to the World Trade Center memorial for the annual commemoration of the attacks. He said his father, George Remouns, was a detective who responded to ground zero on Sept. 11. He died in 2017 of cancer caused by his rescue work.
The most meaningful part of the ceremony was hearing the names of those killed read aloud, Mr. Remouns said.
“You pay your respects,” he said, adding: “It’s a long day.”
Each passing anniversary gets more difficult, said Terry Sholty Strada, whose husband, Tom Strada, worked at Cantor Fitzgerald, one of the companies with offices in the World Trade Center that lost hundreds of employees on Sept. 11. Her husband died that day, Ms. Strada said, and she was “coming to pay respects for his murder.” Their children were 7, 4 and 4 days old at the time.
“They’re all adults now, doing their own thing and just starting the cycle of life,” said Ms. Strada, 62. “And it just starts to kind of get harder again, because they’re off doing their thing and he’s not here for any of it.”
The families were joined at ground zero by President Biden and a number of other politicians, including Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald J. Trump, who were in New York City after facing off in their first presidential debate in Philadelphia on Tuesday evening.
Leading New York officials, including Gov. Kathy Hochul and Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, were present as well.
Jennifer Holohan, 58, attends the ceremony every year in memory of her brother, Thomas Holohan, a firefighter.
“It’s still overwhelming after many years, always overwhelming,” she said through tears.
While the memorial is sad, “it’s a little bit peaceful at the same time,” she said. “It’s respectful and it still evokes a lot of emotion.”
Farther uptown, a group of dancers dressed in white gathered in the plaza at Lincoln Center to perform a tribute to those who were killed and call for global peace. The performance — the 9/11 Table of Silence Project — was choreographed by the artist and dancer Jacqulyn Buglisi.
Courtney Franklin, 60, of Brooklyn, was among the onlookers. She said a friend died in recent years of lung cancer caused by exposure to toxins during the Sept. 11 attacks.
“I remember walking down West Broadway and seeing the barricades — seeing the debris,” Ms. Franklin said. “We forget so much, and this is a reminder,” she said.
Engine Company 54, Ladder Company 4, Battalion 9, the Midtown Manhattan firehouse that lost the most firefighters on Sept. 11, was bustling with current and retired firefighters and their families. Photos of those who died in the attacks hung on a wall above the dozens of people gathered.
The ties binding them together are “like no other tie,” said Donna Conte, 57, gazing around at those gathered. “It’s unbreakable.”
Ms. Conte’s husband, Peter Conte, a firefighter who has since retired, had the day off on Sept. 11, but when the call came in, he rushed out to do whatever he could to help, arriving on the scene just as the second tower came down.
He survived, unlike so many of his colleagues. The pair has come out to the ceremony at the firehouse every year since.
“It’s something you need to do, to make you feel close to them,” Ms. Conte said. “There’s always so much guilt that you get to be with your families and watch them grow,” she added, gesturing at the other families at the firehouse.
Linda Taccetta, 60, has been attending the memorial ceremony at the firehouse every year since her younger brother, Lenny Ragaglia, died in the attacks. He had been a firefighter at the firehouse for nine years.
“I just feel like you need to be here, because I dread this day up until it comes,” she said. “And then just coming here, I always feel better, I really do.”
The two children her brother left behind have grown up and are now firefighters themselves.
Earlier this week, New York Fire Department officials announced a sad milestone: The department has now lost more than 360 members to illnesses related to Sept. 11, exceeding the 343 members who died in the attacks. At least 11,000 members have illnesses linked to time spent at ground zero, officials estimated, and at least 3,500 have cancer.
Some families are still fighting to receive federal benefits from the World Trade Center Health Program and the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund. Many cancers diagnosed before Sept. 11, 2005, cannot be considered linked to the attacks, according to the program’s policy.
Anusha Bayya and Molly Longman contributed reporting.