Saturday, September 11, 2021, U.S and its president will meet at “Ground Zero,” an iconic and damaged site of the two World Trade Center towers, which disappeared in the attack carried out twenty years ago by al-Qaeda terrorists and which caused nearly 3,000 deaths. Today, the chaos, dust and debris are no longer there: more than $25 billion has been invested and skyscrapers have mushroomed around the memorial and museum.
The neighborhood lives and vibrates, sometimes to the rhythm of the jackhammers, with some works to be completed. Ground Zero, it’s over, the void has been filled. On the ashes of the Twin Towers, theThe One World Trade Center rises and tickles the skies of New York since 2014, with its 541 meters. Next to it, four buildings almost as imposing complete the skyline. Closer to the ground, a cultural center will also soon see the light of day, in addition to the new season.
All this gives body to this district, but the heart is the memorial. Water flows from the monumental fountains and pours into two holes, the mark left by the Twin Towers. On the parapets, nearly 3,000 names are engraved in bronze. Those of the victims.
Girard Owens, a 68-year-old former New York firefighter, was present that day in the North Tower basement. He is one of the last firefighters to evacuate just before the collapse and after helping a group of people escape. “People were screaming, it was terrible. Everywhere there were bodies, people jumped into space, maybe 300 meters high. It was absolutely horrible, but we had to go into the tower and help them. People leaving.”
Shortly after the tragedy, very quickly, Girard Owens found himself retired. Then I go. “I had four cancers” he breathes. He’s looking for a name on the memorial. “Today I am here to say goodbye to a friend of mine. One cop. It was a very difficult time. I won’t be there for the birthday, there will be a lot of people, I’d rather come todayThe water flows, calming. “Listen, it’s beautiful. I’m at peace.”
“Ground zero”, to say emptiness and desolation. Still, in 2001, right after the tragedy, there was a spark of life in the disfigured neighborhood. As a symbol of resilience. A bar where the police took their habits, where workers came who evacuated millions of tons of rubble to drink. O’Hara’s. It was one of the few establishments still operating in the area at the time.
And even today, it adds an extra soul to the new district of One World Trade Center. On the walls, large photos showing in particular the bar a few days after the tragedy, covered in dust and debris. “everything exploded here, remembers Mike Kean, the owner of the bar. We weren’t dead, we wanted to come back to life. It took us six to eight months to reopen, it was April 1st. It was miserable, this place, after the attacks. Everyone lost a friend, their place of work, all those lives turned upside down. So going back to our bar, for lunch or after work, gave them a sense of normalcy. It was like coming home. “
However, explains Mike Kean, “every year on your birthday, it’s the same uncomfortable feeling that rips your stomach, it’s pretty awful“
At the bar, thousands of police or firefighter emblems cover the walls. “It’s a very familiar bar, explains Gloria, who has her habits. I come here all the time, I work at the construction site right in front”. Each of these emblems has a story. “Everyone hangs their badge, everyone wears a piece of themselves. Here they like the police, firefighters, rescue workers, workers, all those people who built America“. For her, this bar is a bit like a proof of life: “METhey are always there to serve us alcohol, a smile, good food… that’s life!“
September 11: Return to Ground Zero, Twenty Years Later – Benjamin Illy’s Report
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