>> bill: it will be 1776 feet tall... 1776, intentional in the design, clearly. >> martha: one of the things that strikes you when you are down here is that there is a feeling of comfort, and hopefulness, when you look at these towers and as bill said, there was so much discussion over whether or not there should be anything built there at all and you feel that it is truly a rising of the entire downtown area of manhattan and it is a fighting-back and there is a definite sort of glorified feeling about looking out through the windows and seeing the huge american flags hanging from the gleaming buildings, and it does strike you, the significance of how much it means to this part of the country and to, you know, americans across the country, to have this very special place and to also, have it be a thriving workplace, once again. >> bill: we're two minutes away from 9:03 a.m., eastern time, the moment united airlines flight 175 struck the south tower and there will be a moment of silence for that and president george bush who is here in new york will also deliver a reading and we'll hear from yo-yo ma and the names will continue, after that. i think it should be remarked, to let the rest of the country and world know how different the city changed thursday night, 7:00 eastern time, when the threat went out from the white house about what they were picking up about the possibility of a truck or car bomb that was de tinned for either new york city or washington, d.c. the level of tension in this town in the past two-and-a-half days shot through the roof. there are police cars on every street corner you go in new york and it is difficult to get in and out of times square without at least getting a carsry check of a vehicle that, perhaps, are driving. they are taking no chances security officials, police, for very, very good reasons are on the highest of alert as we approach 9:03, as we... >> we miss you, there is not a minute that goes by, that away don't think of you, we love you. >> and my brother, william beske, we will remember you. >> gary eugene bird. >> joshua david birnbaum. >> george john bishop. >> chris romeo bashinda... [bell tolling] >> president lincoln understood the heart break of his country, he also understood the cost of sacrifice and reached out to console those through sorrow. in the fall of 1864, he learned that a widow had lost five sons in the civil war. and he wrote her this letter: "dear madame, i have been shown in the files of the war department a statement of the adjutant general of massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle. i feel how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming but i cannot refrain from tendering to you the constellations that may be found in the thanks of the republic they died to save. i pray that our heavenly father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours, to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the all tar of freedom. yours, very sincerely, and respect fully, abraham lincoln. [applause] >> i'm peter neg gron, my father worked on the 88th floor of the world trade center. i was 13 when i stood here in 2003 and read a poem about how much i wanted to break down and cry. since then, i have stopped crying but i haven't stopped missing my dad. he was awesome. my brother, just turned two when he passed. i try to teach him all the things my father taught me. how to catch a baseball, how to ride a bike, and, to work hard in school. my dad always said how important it was. since 9/11, my mother, brother and i moved to florida, and i got a job, and enrolled into college. i wish my dad had been there to teach me how to drive, ask a girl out on a date and see me graduate from high school. and 100 other things i can't even begin to name. he worked in the environmental department and cared about the earth and our future. i know he wanted to make a difference. i admire him for that. and, i would have liked to have talked to him about such things. i decided to become a forensic scientist. i hope that i can make my father proud of the young men my brother and i have become. i miss you so much, dad. [applause] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> jeffrey donald bitner. >> albert balewa blackman, jr. >> christopher joseph blackwell. >> carey rosetta blackburn. >> susan leigh blair. >> harry blanding, jr. >> janice lee blaney. >> craig michael blass. >> rita blau. >> richard middleton blood, jr. >> michael andrew boccardi. >> john paul bocchi. >> and my father, james patrick burger. we love you, dad, me, nick, al, mom, we'll never forget you. >> and my father, we miss you, you are forever in our hearts, rest in peace. >> michael l. bocchino. >> susan m. bochino. >> vera bodyley. >> bruce boehm. >> nicholas andrew bogdan. >> darren christopher bohan. >> lawrence francis boisseau. >> vince m. bolland, jr. >> alan bondarenko. >> andre bonheur, jr. >> colin arthur bonnet. >> frank j. bomomo. >> yvonne lucia bonomo. >> kelly ann boom. >> canfield d. boom. >> mary jane booth. >> and my father, george john bishop, we love you dad. >> and my dad, firefighter christopher joseph blackwell. rescue 3, fdny. >> sherry ann bordeaux. >> krystine bordenabe. >> jerry borge. >> carol marie bouchard. >> jay howard boulton. >> fransisco bourdier. >> thomas harold bowden, jr. >> donna m. bow want. >> kimberly s. bowers. >> veronique nicole bowers. >> larry bowman. >> sean edward bowman, jr. >> kevin l. bowser. >> gary r. box. >> gennadyboyarsky. >> and my kids brother, martin borasweksi. >> and richard edward bosco, who will held a special place en my heart, i love and miss you, daddy. >> alan p. boyle. >> michael l. baraka. >> sandra brace. >> kevin bracken. >> sandy bradshaw. >> david brian brady. >> alexander boginsky. >> nicholas brandemarty. >> daniel brandhost. >> david reid gamboa brandhorse. >> rochelle brag en. >> patrice brow. >> lydia bravo. >> edward and brennan, iii. >> frank h. brennan. >> and my father, sean edward bowman, jr. we love and miss you, dad. >> and my father, michael g. jacob, we love and miss you very much, dad. >> michael e. brennan. >> peter brennan. >> thomas brennan. >> daniel j. breathal. >> gary lee bright. >> jonathan briley. >> mark and brisman. >> paul bristow. >> merriman britain. >> herman charles broinghammer. >> bernard g. brown, ii. >> patrick john brown. >> mark bruce. >> bet tina browne-brad burn. >> and my uncle peter alexander, we love and miss you. >> and my uncle, jamal, we always miss you and always love you and we'll see you later. >> richard george bruehert. >> andrew brun. >> and captain vincent edward brunton. >> ronald bucca. >> brandon j. buchanan. >> greg j. buck. >> dennis buckley. >> nancy clare bueche. >> patrick buhsh. >> john edwards bulaga, jr. >> stephen bruce bunin. >> christopher l. burrford. >> matthew burke. >> thomas daniel burke. >> captain william francis burke, jr. >> charles f. burlinggame iii. >> thomas e. burnett, jr. >> donald j. burns. >>... >> bill: these images really have no words and none are needed when you see the hand placed on the name that is now sketched in bronze around these brilliant waterfalls in lower manhattan. the governor of new york, at the time, george pataki, and, he was here, on scene, day after day and week after week and, which turned into months after month and ten years down the road, the governor is back with me here in new york city. good morning to you. >> good morning. >> bill: on september 21, you took me into what was then a pa pile of rubble behind me and saw the twisted steel and smoke and all the activity, so frenetic, you know? there was a sense of chaos, but it was controlled chaos, and, now, only on day ten of this incredible national journey, as you come back here today, do you want to be here? did you look forward to it? what were your feelings as you approached this day, again? >> no, i wish i had wanted to be here, but that is just not the case. it is so painful to remember those almost 3,000 wonderful americans who died on september 11th, and -- but you have to be here. it is the right thing to do, to be with the families, to be with those who responded so courageously and to make sure that they are not forgotten. and that as we remember them, we continue to remember that we have to be optimistic about the future of this great, free country. >> at 10:03 a.m., eastern time, 45 minutes from now, you will read a poem, and the poem is called "the names" appropriately enough. what is the message in those words? >> you know, it talks about names, names placed here, names placed somewhere else. so many names, and, the final line is, too many names, to etch in the wall of the human heart. and, i think there are two points to that poem, one, is the magnitude of the loss, so many names. and, the second is each one is one name, one person, who left behind children, parents, a husband or a wife, friends, and, who we can never forget and i'm very proud today, that we are opening the memorial, that will allow us to remember those heros, each one of them, and their wonderful lives. >> bill: and those names and these in majors, i think is what we will remember, because, the families, they have waited for this time to finally be allowed to go into the area and, today, they get the chance. and, ten years coming down here, i think i can remember one day where i... there was a sense of ebullience or happiness and, the day bin laden was killed, back on the 1st of may, people were cheering and hollering, but, outside of that one day, it is a place of remembrance and it is a place that remembers somber today, but these images on your screen now, across the world is what we will take away. >> absolutely, and that is what we should take away. the children, seeing the name of their father or their mother and, remembering them, and, all of us remembering them, not just today, on the tenth anniversary, but this memorial will stay here, hopefully, for centuries, so that future generations will understand. >> bill: how do you think the city has done? they had 16 acres, which is essentially a square, and, they gui divided it in half, 8 acres to the memorial and 8 acres to the rebuilding and reconstruction. >> i think this is a brilliant, brilliant redevelopment, not the city so much as all of you, when we picked the master site plan, it was picked in my mind because we wanted at the core to have the memorial. that was the single most important thing that had to happen here. and, yet, we didn't want to just think of the past. we wanted to rise to new heights and you can see, behind me, with the american flag on it, the freedom tower, that is going to rise 1776 feet tall, so, the plaza will always be a place of solemnity, hallowed ground. >> bill: and some people frankly thought nothing should be built there, the office space was not needed and argued the past 3-4 years, downturn in the economy, proved that the construction was not necessary and argued the 16 acres should be a park and make it central park south. >> there are two viewpoints, one was, don't even build a memorial and, there were powerful forces saying, rebuild, so the terrorists that... we'll forget what happened and, others said don't build anything and i knew from the beginning we had to do both, remember and have the memorial and rebuild and i think what we've accomplished here is truly going to stand the test of time, and accomplishes the two goals we want, to remember and look forward with confidence. >> bill: today the memorial is open to the families of the victims, only, tomorrow the public is coming in and they are giving away on-line for free, 6,000 tickets a day. >> i said, from the beginning when there were skeptics about the memorial, i thought from the beginning it will be the most visited site in north america and i have no doubt that will be the case. >> bill: iraning you a think yo about that. >> and people say you are taking all of this space and spending too much. no. future generations have to understand what happens and they'll come if we do it right and we did it right. >> it is stunning to hear the names again, as they are ticked off one by one, to hear the comments from kids aged 2 and now are 12 and were ten and now are 20 and frankly we have grown unwith these people, governor. >> yes. >> bill: first name on that list, every year, is gordon aamoth, jr., and, he will always be first. >> but every one is important. and you talked about growing up, with these names, and there was a child who was the age of our youngest son, who died, his father was a firefight and my wife and i took him to movie openings with our son and made sure he always had a family, and, we learned he has a new york firefighter, and it it was emotional to hear, the young man, 10 or 12 at the time, is a new york city firefighter like his dad. makes you proud. >> bill: a brilliant story and good way to end it. from day ten, in 2001, to year ten, governor, thank you. >> thank you, bill. >> bill: george pataki, the former governor of new york. who will have his own reading at 10:03 a.m., eastern time and governor, we'll wait and watch for that. martha? >> martha: as we continue to listen to the names being read this morning and watch these incredible images of the family members flooding in, to surround the area where these waterfalls are, and where they are seeing the name, etched, of their loved ones for the first time, it is really quite something to watch these families, as they surround this very special place, and, some of the most incredible pictures that the nation watched on september 11th, came from our own rick leventhal and his crew. because they were there, as it unfolded in the middle of it all, covered in soot, he captured the terror as thousands of people were running for their lives. rick leventhal is back at ground zero, this morning. on this very special and important day for our nation. good morning, rick. what goes through your mind on this incredible day? >> rick: it is tough to narrow it down, martha. we are on the tenth floor balcony of the world financial center across west side highway from the the world trade center site and we can hear the names of the victims, being read by family members and they float through the air up to our ears here. very moving and somber ceremony as you guys have talked about, especially, when they read the names of their loved ones, and deliver personal messages to them, and, then as you said, we're also seeing some of the family members now heading out towards the memorial and that is the most dramatic difference we have seen. in years past it was the frustration at the lack of progress at the site and now, instead we are seeing 400 trees and two beautiful waterfalls and footprints of the towers and new towers rising around them so people who mourn can look up and see the future. and, i think the main reason whee we are having this ceremony today, the main reason why they read the names year after year is so we can never forget and is worth looking back at our tape of ten years ago to remember what happened this day. >> rick: we can see the top of the building from here. oh, yeah. oh, there it goes, there it goes, there it goes! oh... >> we need to put it down now. >> here we go. >> new york mayor michael bloomberg spoke this morning and i want to read the first line of his remarks. ten years passed since a perfect blue sky morning turned into the blackest of nights and since then we have lived in sunshine, and in shadow. martha, i think we are seeing more sunshine today. and, i think this scene behind you, the memorial behind us, as the governor eloquently put it will most likely be the most popular tourist attraction in the city, if not the country, perhaps the world. and, when people come here they will see sunshine, and they will be able to read the names of all of those victims and reflect and, do it in a atmosphere of peace and calm and that is certainly a big step forward. >> martha: rick you that you can about the fact that in previous years there was so much discussion about why this wasn't finished yet. and, there is something strangely fitting, i think, in the fact that bin laden is dead, this memorial is finished. and, these family members are walking into it, and all of that has happened in this ten-year anniversary. perhaps there was some reason that all of that came together, in the year as we watch these children and families file in, to look at it for the very first time. >> rick: that is certainly possible and it is possible since we have more work to do, there is more work to do here as well. we're years away from some of these buildings being open and a year away from the museum being open and the fact that there is progress has to give all of these people hope and has to maybe put an edge of a smile on some of their faces, and, gives them a chance to really pay their respects. in years past they couldn't make it past the chain-link fence here on west street and couldn't get past the barricades to get closures than a fountain at the bottom of a ramp at the bottom of the pit. now, they can actually walk across grass, under trees, and, move to the edge of this waterfall, and, read the names of the loved ones who were lost. >> martha: so true, last night, walking around the area, you saw the makeshift memorials there for years and now there is a proper memorial we are all seeing for the first time, rick, thank you so much. rick leventhal, we'll hear from him throughout the rest of today, down looking at ground zero from the world financial center vantage point. remarkable. >> bill: on this day, in 2001, it was 8:20 a.m., when american airlines flight 77, a boeing 757 took off from washington dulles airport, bound for lax in los angeles, california. it was about an hour and 18, 19 minutes later, when flight 77 crashed into the pentagon. now, the ceremony at the pentagon is underway, it is honoring the lives lost on that day. both inside the pentagon and also on board the plane. we're about 9 minutes away from a moment of silence at the pentagon and ground zero, new york, and, a bit earlier today, an american flag was unfurled along the front of the building, showing the stars and stripes, ten years after the building was devastated in the attacks. and, they made a pledge at the pentagon. they said we will rebuild and reopen the damaged portion of this building, within one year. and the u.s. military, department of defense, the pentagon, did just that. jennifer griffin is handling that for us today at the pentagon and, jennifer, good morning to you. >> reporter: hi, bill. in fact, not only did they reopen the pentagon, what makes this site so different and this ceremony so different is the survivors of that attack, they still go to work every day, in the building where they were attacked. and, for every member of the pentagon, every member of the armed services, 100,000 who are serving overseas in iraq an afghanistan, 9/11 lives with them every day. i talked to some survivors, this week, who still showed signs of post-traumatic stress but still go to work in corridor 4 where that site 77 struck. we are standing by, right now at 9:30, exactly, the ceremony will start, defense secretary leon panetta will speak and vice president joe biden as well that's chairman of the joint chiefs, the president will be here later in the day and there will be a moment of silence at 9:37, the exact moment that flight 77 struck the building, they will turn off the water running underneath the memorial behind me, behind me, there, what is so striking, the memorial has 184 benches, each representing one of the individuals who was killed on that day. the wa