9/11 survivors and first responders are snubbed from the New York 20th anniversary ceremony

The 9/11 Memorial & Museum only sent invitations to the relatives of the victims saying the ceremony this year would be “exclusively for 9/11 family members”.

This memorial went from never forget – to forget about the heroes of 9/11.

A ceremony next month to honour those killed 20 years ago on September 11 will be limited to family members of the fallen, after organisers decided first responders, survivors and others wouldn’t be invited to the milestone commemoration.

The solemn gathering at the World Trade Center site will serve as the city’s featured memorial on a day that devastated New Yorkers and shook the nation.

In years past, the reading of the names of 2983 deceased has been attended by former presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, US senators, governors and other dignitaries.

Thousands have flocked to Ground Zero to pay homage on previous anniversaries, including firefighters, cops, EMS workers and other first responders, all joining family members in the audience.

There are calls for first responders and survivors to be welcomed to this year’s September 11 ceremony. Picture: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

This year, the 9/11 Memorial & Museum sent the usual invitations to the relatives of the victims saying, “The ceremony will be exclusively for 9/11 family members.”

The invitations will serve as the “credential for admittance to the ceremony on the memorial plaza,” the letters say, and attendees will cluster near the two memorial pools rimmed with the inscribed names of those who perished.

“Only family members are invited,” said memorial spokeswoman Lee Cochran. “The invited family members can bring as many additional family-member guests as they’d like.”

Ms Cochran insisted that nothing is new this year.

But the rules have been loosely enforced to limit attendance and keep the event under control.

Jim Riches, a retired firefighter whose firefighter son, Jimmy, was killed in the attacks, has attended every 9/11 ceremony and said many first-responders were admitted without passes.

“They turn a blind eye and let them in,” he said. “I know some in full uniform have gotten in and also seen others turned away.”

Sally Regenhard, who lost her son on 9/11, wants responders and survivors to be welcomed to this year’s memorial. Picture: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Sally Regenhard, whose firefighter son, Christian, was killed on 9/11, said responders and survivors should all be welcomed.

“I think that 9/11 happened to a lot of people, and we can’t forget the survivors. It didn’t happen exclusively to people who were massacred on that day. It profoundly affected other people, who were physically or emotionally injured,” Ms Regenhard said.

“People in the uniformed services consider the people they work with as brothers and sisters – they’re a family. They should make an effort to have every single first responder who would like to attend, go. It should be open to all of them, especially those who answered the call of duty on 9/11,” she said.

Tim Frolich, a Fuji Bank employee whose foot was crushed while escaping the dust cloud when the South Tower collapsed, credits two Port Authority cops and a firefighter with bringing him to safety.

He believes such heroes should be invited to the 9/11 ceremony.

“They’re the people we turned to in a moment of sheer chaos to help us,” Mr Frolich said.

Frank Siller, CEO of the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, whose firefighter brother, Stephen Siller, was killed on 9/11, said first-responders and survivors should not be turned away.

Law enforcement officials lay flowers in tribute to slain New York Police Department officer Randolph Holder at National September 11th Memorial on October 22, 2015. Picture: Andrew Burton/Getty Images

“Just because it’s 20 years later doesn’t mean you‘re completely healed,” he said. “They want to pay their respects and honour their heroes. I think they should be allowed down there.”

The tradition to come together and read the names of the lost began on September 11, 2002, when dignitaries and family members gathered at Ground Zero, then still a gaping hole in Lower Manhattan.

Rudy Giuliani, who was mayor on 9/11, started the name recitation that year, followed by then Secretary of State Colin Powell; Senators Charles Schumer and Hillary Clinton; and actor Robert De Niro. Relatives of those lost also took part in the readings.

George Pataki, then New York governor, recited the Gettysburg Address. Mr Bush arrived several hours later to lay a wreath at the site.

The ceremony has continued every year since, with children of the deceased reading the names on one occasion and parents and grandparents on another. The names include those killed in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center.

Moments of silence mark when a plane hit each of the Twin Towers, the Pentagon and a field in Shanksville, PA, and when each tower fell.

Eddie Reyes is comforted in 2011 while remembering 15 of his colleagues in the New York Police Department Emergency Service Unit who were killed on September 11, 2001. Picture: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

The event has not been without controversy.

When the memorial plaza opened in 2011 for the 10th anniversary of the attack, the city said there was no room for firefighters, cops and others at the ceremony attended by Mr Bush and Mr Obama.

Some firefighters fumed in 2016, the 15th anniversary, when they were barred from the ceremony while politicians got in.

“What family member did Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump lose that they were allowed in?” one of the first responders, EMT Terry Canham, griped that year.

The pandemic scuttled the tradition last year, when memorial officials, bowing to Covid-19 concerns, decided they would not bring together anyone to read the names, using a prerecorded recitation instead.

Family members of 9/11 victims tribute their loved ones on the 19th anniversary of September 11. Picture: Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

That led the Tunnel to Towers Foundation to hold its own ceremony a short distance away with live readings.

“This is not something we wanted to do. It’s something we had to do,” Siller told the New York Post at the time.

Another furore erupted when the 9/11 memorial said it was also cancelling its annual Tribute in Light to protect workers from Covid-19 while setting up the display of twin blue beams over the WTC site.

The outcry led the foundation to reverse course. This September 11, the lights are expected to shine at sunset, and fade away at dawn on September 12.

The 9/11 ceremony is set to start at 8.30am and conclude at 1pm. The plaza will open to the public at 3pm.

The FDNY is holding a special 20th anniversary memorial service at 1.30pm at St Patrick’s Cathedral.

This article originally appeared on NY Post and was reproduced with permission

Originally published as 9/11 survivors and first responders are snubbed from the New York 20th anniversary ceremony