9/11 Ceremony Endures at Transformed Ground Zero

Bagpipes opened the ceremony marking the 13th anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001, today in Manhattan, USA Today reports, but in a place transformed by the years. The National September 11 Memorial & Museum sits at the spot where thousands gather to honor the fallen, as the nearly finished One World Trade Center soars overhead. "It's so symbolic of what the country went through," the sister of Charles Burlingame, the pilot of the plane that crashed into the Pentagon, tells the AP. A mother who lost her son in the attacks also welcomes the new additions. "Surrounding that memorial, Lower Manhattan has been revitalized," she says.

But not all are a fan of the noise and action. "Instead of a quiet place of reflection, it's where kids are running around," says a woman whose brother died in the attacks. "Some people forget this is a cemetery. I would never go to the Holocaust museum and take a selfie." Still, as crowds venture to Ground Zero, some are finding unique ways to honor their lost loved ones. Francesca Picerno, who remembers her father singing Frank Sinatra off-key, honors his love of music with her first single, the New York Post reports. "I want him to know I do it all for him," says Picerno, who was just 9 years old in 2001. "I intend to live my life to the fullest because his life was cut so short and he didn't get to." (More 9/11 anniversary stories.)