Many observances to honor the 9/11 victims consisted of a moment of silence.

Many observances to honor the 9/11 victims consisted of a moment of silence.
LOS ANGELES TIMES
NEW YORK -- Three years after an assault by terrorists that killed more than 3,000 people, New York and the nation observed the anniversary of Sept. 11 in ceremonies marked by undiminished grief and resolve.
At a podium overlooking ground zero, parents and grandparents of people who died at the World Trade Center struggled Saturday to get through a recitation of names without breaking down. Many lost their composure as they recalled children gone forever.
"It has been said that a child who loses a parent is an orphan, a man who loses his wife is a widower, and a woman who loses her husband is a widow," said New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, as the reading of 2,749 names began.
"But there is no name for a parent who loses a child, for there are no words to describe this pain."
On Sept 11, 2001, 19 suicide hijackers commandeered four planes and succeeded in using three of them as deadly weapons, striking the two towers of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
On the fourth plane, passengers disrupted the plot and died when the plane crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pa.
Nearly 3,000 people lost their lives that day.
Bells tolled at special services, and other observances were held across the United States Saturday -- in New York and Washington, in Boston and Los Angeles, where many victims on the doomed planes were from, and elsewhere. In many places, a simple moment of silence was observed.
Washington observance
In Washington, President Bush marked the anniversary in a live radio broadcast from the Oval Office. Surrounded by victims' relatives, firefighters and police officers, Bush described the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, as a turning point.
"We saw the goals of a determined enemy: to expand the scale of their murder, and force America to retreat from the world," he said. "And our nation accepted a mission: We will defeat this enemy."
Earlier, Bush and his wife, Laura, along with Vice President Cheney and his wife, Lynne, attended a prayer service at St. John's Episcopal Church.
They then joined members of Congress, other officials and victims' families on the South Lawn of the White House for a moment of silence at 8:46 a.m. -- the time that, three years earlier, American Airlines Flight 11 hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center.
In the Pennsylvania field where Flight 93 crashed, two large bells rang as the names of each 40 passengers and crew on board were read. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge told the victims' families, "No words, no memorials, nothing can take the place of all that you have lost."
In Massachusetts
Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic presidential candidate, marked the anniversary Saturday by paying tribute to victims in his home state of Massachusetts.
At Boston Public Garden, he laid white lilies wrapped in red, white and blue ribbons at a granite 9/11 memorial, where he read the engraved names of Massachusetts victims of the terrorist strikes. Kerry later spoke to more than 100 family members of 9/11 victims at the newly restored Boston Opera House.
"While Sept. 11th was the worst day we have ever seen, it brought out the best in all of us," he said. "And we must always remember that we will only defeat those who sought to destroy us by standing together as one America."
Saturday's anniversary was also marked around the world.
In Pakistan, a radical Islamic group used the day to protest American policies in Iraq.
In Japan, a top government spokesman acknowledged the loss of "many precious lives, including those of 24 Japanese" in the Sept. 11 attacks.
"We are entering a period in which one terrorist attack leads to another," Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda told reporters. "Each country should make efforts and also work closely globally to prevent this despicable crime of terrorism."
In Jerusalem, about 1,200 people took part in a rally in memory of the Sept. 11 victims. Christian, Jewish and Muslim religious leaders presided at the event, held in a park across the street from the U.S. Consulate. Participants prayed, staged a moment of silence, and released a flight of white doves.
Elsewhere, Australian Prime Minister John Howard said the fight against terrorism would be a "long and bloody battle," suggesting that those who think otherwise are "deluding" themselves.
"The world did change on that day," he said. "We are living in a different environment, and even in a freedom-loving country such as Australia, we have to recognize that."
New York tribute
In New York, several thousand people showed up for the ground zero ceremony, where New York Gov. George Pataki, New Jersey James McGreevy and former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani also made brief comments from the stage.
Three family members delivered special tributes, including Nancy Brandemarti, who read a poem to her son, Nick, including the lines: "Our hearts still ache in sadness, and secret tears will flow. What it meant to lose you, no one will ever know."
Many of the attendees wore colorful T-shirts emblazoned with the photographs of loved ones who died. Some massed in front of the stage while the names were read, listening intently, while others cried quietly in the arms of friends and family.
Virtually all of them descended into the pit at ground zero after their loved one's name was read. They left behind flowers in two small reflecting pools, each meant to symbolize the fallen towers.
The nearly four-hour ceremony was interrupted four times by the ringing of a bell, marking the moment each plane hit the towers, and the moment each building fell. When the event ended, police and fire department trumpeters played taps.