Nation looks ahead after a long day of remembering Sept. 11

Thursday, September 12th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

NEW YORK (AP) _ The words came from the president, from the families of those killed on Sept. 11, from people who watched the attacks unfold on television. Again and again on a day of memorials that marked the first anniversary of the terrorist attacks, Americans vowed to move on in tribute to the fallen.

``Each of us has had our hearts torn apart, but we can take those pieces and put them back together,'' Harold Lutnick, the chief executive of Cantor Fitzgerald, said at a service for the firm's 658 employees who died at the World Trade Center. Lutnick's brother was among those lost.

``Together we will create something new,'' he said.

President Bush capped the remembrances Wednesday night with an address from Ellis Island, using the Statue of Liberty as a backdrop. He told a nation still battling terrorism that ``a milestone has passed, and a mission goes on.''

Most Americans went to work and school Wednesday, but it was far from business as usual.

Authorities stayed on alert for another attack. Dust stirred by a gusty wind swirled around mourners at the trade center, doves fluttered from a Pennsylvania field and patriotic songs rang out at the Pentagon. Once evening fell, candlelight vigils nationwide carried messages of hope.

Silent tributes were held from Maine to Hawaii. Telemarketers cut back on their phone calls, politicians kept campaign ads off the air and baseball games paused at 9:11 p.m. At Yankee Stadium in New York, a memorial inscribed ``We Remember'' was unveiled beyond the center field fence.

``Let us live for what they died for _ the United States of America,'' Carson Howell, who lost a brother in the Pentagon crash, said on the steps of the Idaho Capitol.

At the New Mexico State Fair, 46-year-old Keith Powell remembered the attacks with an American flag shirt. ``It's a sad day, but we have to go on,'' he said.

Bush presided at the Pentagon ceremony, then flew to southwest Pennsylvania to help honor the 40 people killed when United Flight 93 crashed near Shanksville. The passengers and crew were hailed by Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge for struggling to take back their hijacked plane and avert a possible attack on the Capitol or White House.

``If we learn nothing else from this tragedy, we learn that life is short and there is no time for hate,'' said Sandy Dahl, wife of Flight 93 pilot Jason Dahl.

Around the world, some of the most profound moments came silently as perhaps millions of people paused for prayer or meditation. After two minutes of silence in Copenhagen, Denmark, the city's Lord Mayor Jens Kramer Mikkelsen declared: ``We will not allow fear to overtake us.''

At California State University in Fresno, hundreds of people gathered to plant trees in memory of two former students who died in the attacks: Navy Lt. Cmdr. Vincent Tolbert, who died at the Pentagon, and Todd Beamer, who was aboard Flight 93 and uttered the now-famous words, ``Let's roll.''

``My brother-in-law lived life by a motto, `Live life to its fullest. I'd rather burn out than fade away.' And that's what he did,'' Laurie Tolbert told the crowd.

A booming rendition of the national anthem set the tone for morning commemorations at the Pentagon, where 184 people died when American Flight 77 smashed into the building. U.S. military bases in Afghanistan also held memorial services.

``There isn't a place I'd rather be or a job I'd rather be doing,'' said Lt. Col. Tim Strasburger, an Air Force pilot on duty in Kandahar.

At London's St. Paul's Cathedral, 3,000 white rose petals fluttered down from the dome _ one for each victim who died in the attacks. In Paris, two powerful beams of light were projected into the sky. In Pisa, Italy, a white banner placed by the Leaning Tower read: ``From the tower to the towers. Sept. 11, 2002. Memory, solidarity and peace.''

Thousands of mourners gathered at the trade center, clutching pictures of loved ones and placing roses in a ``circle of honor'' after a roll call of the dead and missing that took 2 1/2 hours to complete.

Bush bowed his head before a memorial wreath at ground zero and spoke quietly with relatives of victims of the attacks. He and first lady Laura Bush lingered there for hours.

At an evening ceremony, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg lighted an eternal flame at an interim memorial, saying, ``The memories of those we lost will burn with unending brightness.''