HOST:
Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC – VOA’s radio magazine in SpecialEnglish.
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This is Doug Johnson. On our program today, we play music byBruce Springsteen and tell how Americans plan to remember the eventsof September eleventh of last year.
Observances in New York,Virginia and Pennsylvania
HOST:
Wednesday, September eleventh, will be the first anniversary ofthe terrorist attacks against the United States. Officials in NewYork, Washington and Pennsylvania are preparing ceremonies toremember, and to honor those who were killed. Mary Tillotson hasmore.
ANNCR:
Ceremonies in New York City will begin early Wednesday morningwith people playing bagpipes and drums in each of the five areas ofthe city. These groups will begin marching toward the attack areaknown as Ground Zero. They will meet there at eight o’clock.
A service will begin forty-sixminutes later, when the terrorists crashed the first hijacked planeinto the first building of the World Trade Center. Former New YorkCity Mayor Rudolph Giuliani will begin reading the names of the morethan two-thousand-eight-hundred people who died in the attack in NewYork. Several other people will continue reading until all the namesare read.
The ceremony will end atten-twenty-nine, the time the second World Trade Center tower fell.City officials want all religious centers in the city and thecountry to ring bells at that time.
Families of the victims will then walk into the area to placeroses in a vase that will become part of a permanent memorial.
Leaders from around the world are expected to attend otherceremonies in New York at sunset. And candlelight ceremonies willtake place in all parts of the city at night.
President Bush is expected to visit Ground Zero during the day.He will also visit the Defense Department headquarters nearWashington, D-C, which terrorists also attacked with a hijackedairplane. And he will visit the place in Pennsylvania where thefourth hijacked plane crashed.
Officials in Arlington, Virginiaare calling for people in the city to fly American flags atnine-thirty-seven in the morning. That was when the hijacked planehit the Pentagon. A huge flag will be flown over the Potomac Riverfrom the Key Bridge. And a bronze bell in Arlington’s Gateway Parkwill ring one-hundred-eighty-four times in honor of those who werekilled at the Pentagon.
Other events will honor the police, fire and emergency medicalworkers who were the first to arrive after the hijacked plane hitthe Pentagon. About thirty-thousand people are expected to attend amemorial service in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, the town where thefourth hijacked plane crashed. A bell will ring forty times at theceremony-one for each victim.
Observances Across theNation
HOST:
Americans in other parts of the country also will be observingthe anniversary of the terrorist attacks.
The United States Conference of Mayors says more thanone-hundred-seventy cities and towns across the country have plannedofficial events on September eleventh. Reports say more thanone-hundred-fifty organizations and communities asked the city ofNew York for pieces of the World Trade Center ruins. They want touse pieces of the buildings during their remembrance ceremonies.
Bagpipes and church bells are expected to ring out ateight-forty-six in the morning, when the first plane hit the WorldTrade Center. Officials in Houston, Texas are expecting more thanfive-thousand people to take part in a ceremony at City Hall. Theywill place three-thousand flowers in a pool of water. The flowersrepresent those who died in the attacks.
The International Association of Fire Chiefs has called forsirens and church bells to ring at the times when the two towersfell.
Officials in Elkhart, Indiana say their ceremony will take placeat the same time as the one in New York. Officials there will bereading the names of the police officers, fireman and emergencymedical workers who died.
A woman and her daughter from Denver, Colorado have created ahuge flag from more than three-thousand pieces of cloth from acrossthe country. The flag will be shown at the United States Capitolbuilding in Washington, D.C. next week.
High school students in Allentown, Pennsylvania created a mosaicpicture of the events. They will present it at ceremonies in theirtown. The city of Anchorage, Alaska will offer free telephone callsfor people to speak to loved ones far away. And a memory wall willbe built there for people to sign and leave flowers.
In Cambridge, Massachusetts, people will plant trees asremembrances that create new life. Many Americans say it isimportant that the ceremonies remember the horrible events of lastyear and those who were killed. But they say the ceremonies alsoshould express the love of Americans for their country and theirhope for a better, more peaceful future.
Bruce Springsteen’s “The Rising”
HOST:
Bruce Springsteen’s new album was released July thirtieth. It isnumber one in record sales in more than ten countries. Most of itssongs are about the September eleventh terrorist attacks. ShepO’Neal plays some of the songs on the album, “The Rising.”
ANNCR:
“You’re Missing” is probably the saddest song on “The Rising.” Awoman’s husband has died. She and her children see the many thingsthat belonged to him around the house, but he is gone.
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“Into the Fire” is about one of the hundreds of police,firefighters and rescue workers who died in the terrorist attacks.The song honors the love and sense of duty he showed that day. It isalso a prayer for the strength and hope that his sacrificerepresents.
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Songs on “The Rising” also express anger about the attacks. But,the anger is mostly a personal statement, not a political one. Thesong “Empty Skies” describes the desire to strike back that a personfeels after a senseless loss.
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The album’s title song appeals to listeners to come together andheal each other. We leave you now with Bruce Springsteen’s hopefultitle song, “The Rising.”
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HOST:
This is Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed our program today. And Ihope you will join us again next week for AMERICAN MOSAIC – VOA’sradio magazine in Special English.
This AMERICAN MOSAIC program was written by Caty Weaver and NancySteinbach. Our studio engineer was Curtis Bynum. And our producerwas Paul Thompson.