Tragic recital a solemn start to the day

ONE by one, 2,801 victims’ names will be read aloud.

To the mother of the man whose name is first on the list, the tragic recitation will bring home to listeners the magnitude of the World Trade Centre disaster.

Mary Aamoth of Minneapolis, mother of Gordy Aamoth, said she and her husband, Gordon, would be watching on television today as former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani read their son's name at the ceremony marking the anniversary of the terror attacks.

"I'm very pleased and impressed with how dignified, solemn and appropriate the service appears to be," Mrs Aamoth said.

Her 32-year-old son worked at Sandler O'Neill & Partners on the 104th floor of the south tower.

Mr Giuliani is scheduled to lead a group of dignitaries reading the victims' names in alphabetical order. Others include Secretary of State Colin Powell, actor Robert De Niro and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The programme is to begin and end with moments of silence at 8.46am when the first plane hit and just before 10.30am, when the second tower collapsed.

After the first moment of silence, Governor George Pataki will read from the Gettysburg Address, President Abraham Lincoln's speech after the major Civil War battle at Gettysburg in 1863, Pennsylvania. Mayor Michael Bloomberg will introduce the reading of the names.

The last name on the list will be that of Igor Zukelman, 29, of New York, who worked at Fiduciary Trust Company International.

The ceremony will conclude with a reading from the Declaration of Independence by New Jersey Governor James McGreevey.

MR BLOOMBERG said the two historical addresses were relevant in observing the anniversary. The Gettysburg Address "talks about hallowed ground, it talks of the continuity that's America. Everything that Abraham Lincoln talked about is still true today," he said.

The recitation of the names will pause for readings by family members at 9.03am, when the second plane struck, and 9.59am, when the first tower fell. Ed Skyler, a spokesman for Mr Bloomberg, said the passages to be read had not been decided.

Many of the 197 people scheduled to read names lost loved ones in the attacks, including Christy Ferer, the widow of Port Authority director Neil Levin; and Melissa Ielpi, sister of slain firefighter Jonathan Ielpi.

Relatives of victims who worked for companies that suffered heavy losses, such as Cantor Fitzgerald and Aon Corp., will read many names. Each reader will recite about 14 names.

Some survivors of the attacks also are scheduled to join the ceremony, including Anne Foodim, of Fiduciary Trust; and a reader representing the airlines, Stephen Forte, chief pilot of United Airlines.

The order of readers was finalised over the weekend, according to Jennifer Falk, a spokeswoman for Mr Bloomberg.

Victims' family members who submitted email requests were chosen by lottery.

Families were invited to, about 9.04am, descend the ramp that extends into the seven-storey-deep pit, where they could pick up a rose and place it in a vase for an arrangement that would be preserved for a permanent memorial.