9/11 lights shone out across America despite coronavirus restrictions

Light tributes to September 11 victims shone across America as commemorations begin on the 19th anniversary of the terror attacks.

Tributes paid to those who lost their lives have been altered this year, with restrictions in place due to Covid-19. 

In New York, the annual ‘Tribute in Light’ was almost cancelled after the 9/11 Memorial and Museum said there was a virus risk to the installation crew.  

In Washington, a tower of blue light shone over the Pentagon one of many changes to the annual remembrance, which has been scaled back this year. 

The Tunnel to Towers Foundation illuminated its ‘Towers of Light’ tribute next to the Pentagon on Wednesday, and it will remain lit until the early hours of Saturday 12.  

This is to honor the lives lost in Flight 77, which struck the Pentagon after being hijacked, killing all 64 passengers and 6 crew on board, and 125 people in the building.  

Military leaders will conduct the Pentagon’s ceremony without victims’ families in attendance, and their loved ones’ names will be recited by a recording.

Although they won’t be read on-site, victims’ relatives can visit the Pentagon’s memorial in small groups later Friday. 

President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden both plan to visit the Flight 93 National Memorial in Pennsylvania on Friday, though not at the same time. 

Trump is speaking at a morning ceremony, with Biden paying respects in the afternoon. 

It will also be the first time since taking office that neither President Donald Trump nor Vice President Mike Pence will be at the Pentagon ceremony.  

Pence plans to participate in remembrance ceremonies in New York City, first visiting Ground Zero before attending the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation event.

Biden will also attend the main New York memorial before heading to Pennsylvania. 

In New York, the double beams of light that evoke the fallen twin towers were nearly canceled in the name of virus safety, until an uproar restored the tribute. 

The Fire Department cited the virus in urging members to skip observances of the 2001 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people, among them almost 350 firefighters.

Some victims’ relatives say they understand the ground zero observance had to change in a year when so much else has. 

The National September 11 Memorial and Museum cancelled its tradition of having relatives read the names of the dead aloud. 

It will offer a recording instead to those gathered at the World Trade Center site. 

‘It’s another smack in the face,’ says Jim Riches, who lost his son Jimmy, a firefighter.

The father is staying home on the anniversary for the first time this year because he doesn’t want to take chances with the coronavirus after a prior illness. 

But he feels others should have the option of reciting the names of the dead on the memorial plaza, instead of listening to a recording.

Some victims’ relatives felt the change robbed the observance of its emotional impact. 

A different 9/11 group, the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation, set up a simultaneous ceremony in response to this in New York.     

The 9/11 Memorial and Museum’s annual ‘Tribute in Light’ will also go ahead after it was announced last month the twin blue beams that shine into the night sky over lower Manhattan were to be cancelled.

While there’s no official gathering to view the lights, the memorial cited virus risks to the installation crew.

The cancellation outraged some victims’ relatives, police and fire unions and politicians, who noted that construction sites around the city were deemed safe to reopen months ago. 

After the Tunnel to Towers foundation said it would organize the display on its own, Governor Andrew Cuomo and former Mayor Mike Bloomberg, the memorial’s billionaire chairman, stepped in to keep the memorial-sponsored lights on.