Glasgow Memorial Service Remembers 9/11 Heroes

|TOP|A memorial service was held in Glasgow by a Scottish charity to remember the firefighters and police officers who died in the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers as the five year anniversary is marked worldwide Monday.

More than 150 people attended the multi-faith ceremony at the Old Cathcart Parish Church in Glasgow where they paid tribute to the 343 firefighters and 37 Port Authority Police Officers who lost their lives in the tragedy.

Among the congregation were volunteers for the charity behind the service, the Glasgow the Caring City project, a group that has provided holidays in Scotland to around 50 children who lost their fathers in the attack.

The Rev Neil Galbraith, chief executive of the project, expressed the mood of the service as offering the chance to look to the future as well as to reflect on the past, reports the BBC.

During the service, the flags of the Fire Department of New York and the Port Authority Police of NY and NJ – gifted to Glasgow by the Caring City – were carried into the church as the congregation sang the hymn Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory. |QUOTE|

A letter from Barbara Mahon, family liaison officer with the Port Authority Police, was also read out during the service, entitled “children we know and the friends we have made”.

The letter read: "Glasgow the Caring City has been incredibly supportive and its involvement with our families had a very positive effect on them and me."

Ms Mahon said the children and their mothers were "forever grateful".

Inverclyde Provost Ciano Rebecchi read out a letter from Serena Joyce, Special Assistant to the Fire Commissioner, the Fire Department of New York.

It read: "It has been five years, a period when slowly the New York City Fire Department has been turning to the light.

"We hope to one day feel it full on our faces.

"Glasgow the Caring City and Cathcart Old Parish are made up of some pretty extraordinary individuals.

"Never have I received such a warm, forthright and selfless welcome in my life."

|AD|White flowers were also laid at the foot of a golden cross by parishioners and charity volunteers as the song Over the Rainbow was played in the background. The gesture was intended to symbolise a hope for peace.

Rev Galbraith said the charity and congregation in Glasgow had done a "powerful job in healing".

He added: "We were given the privilege of working with those children, including teenagers and babies who had never seen their father.

"If anyone takes anything way from this service, let's take hope and the goal of peace."

Rev Galbraith added that the flowers were also intended to remember the victims who had suffered in Madrid, Bali, London, Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as New York, and that they were also for soldiers who had died in conflict, including the aircrew at RAF Kinloss who lost their lives in Afghanistan last week.

The memorial service is due to be screened to families in New York this week.

Meanwhile, President Bush and other top officials joined thousands gathering across the US yesterday in tearful tributes, prayers and quiet reflection on the eve of the fifth anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks.

In New York, the president and first lady Laura Bush placed wreaths in pools of water at Ground Zero, where the World Trade Centre's twin towers stood.

Afterwards Bush attended a "Service of Prayer and Remembrance" at a nearby chapel with his wife.

Relatives and friends of British victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks have travelled to New York to be at the site of the World Trade Centre for commemorations today.