It's also my understanding there will be no religious element to this event.
I wish they could poll the surviving families who will be in attendance
Bet all would rather have the first responders there and some prayers offered than being forced to listen to irrelevant politicians drone on and on.

They weren't invited ten years ago either. They just showed up.

I have noticed that Memorial Day parades have become a showplace for politicians and fire engines. The "American Way"?

Does this mean that the actual first responders of that day were not allowed to attend - people who were there and worked and helped and were injured? If so, that's awful! I had taken it to mean that you were not automatically going to be admitted simply because you were in a "first responder" profession (like, say, someone who had entered the ranks since then) because there were so many survivors and loved ones that had to be accommodated.

A tribute to the 343 members of FDNY who were murdered that day:

Ten Seconds…Ten Years

Ten years is a very short time
A blink of an eye to God
For us it’s been our eternal reward
For those left behind, it’s been hard…

Ten seconds is a very long time
When that’s all you have left to live
There’s time enough to make your peace
But not time enough to give…

…to give your sweetheart one more kiss
Or to squeeze her oh so tight
Not time to assure your kids
Everything will be alright

From the moment I began this job
I’ve prepared myself for this day
So now as He suddenly calls me home
I already know the way

I remember…

Kaboom, kaboom, kaboom, kaboom
Like a freight train bearing down
I instantly knew how this would end
That’s when I felt His peace surround…

…surround my body, surround my soul
Surround my brothers in arms
I felt His love, like a giant cloak
Sheltering us from harm

While answering the call that day
I saw the second plane
It glided through the cloudless sky
Then burst into fire-like rain

It rained down fire, it rained down dust
It rained down bodies, too
It seemed no matter how we tried
There was nothing we could do

We knew the people trapped above
The hole ripped into the tower
Could never escape with their mortal lives
Without the aid of His holy power

I prayed that day, a silent prayer
As I stepped inside the lobby
I knew that without His intervention
We’d be merely recovering bodies

We began climbing the narrow stairs
While others were heading out
As we passed these frightened civilians
Some began to shout…

“God bless you, our brave firemen
you’re heroes to us all.”
But we were simply doing our jobs
Just answering the call

We knew when we began the fight
We all would not survive
But risking our lives for those of others
Helps keep our hopes alive…

…our hopes that good will conquer all
And God will help us through
Rewarding us all with eternal life
As our souls begin anew

I saw the face of God that day
As He led me from this place
His will, not ours, will always be done
Accept this fact with grace

I understood, at once, that day
What firemen were sent here for
Watch over His endangered as best we can
Of no man could He ask more

Ten seconds is a very long time…

…ten years is a very short time

I didn't listen to the proceedings. According to NPR there was an Islamic speaker. Great, "You break it, you own it".

I couldn't be bothered to watch the midget megalomaniac Bloomberg patting himself on the back while showing incredible disrespect to the police,fire,and medical personnel who responded and the memory of so many who went into a deathtrap so they could rescue total strangers.
I hope if Bloomy ever needs EMT's they get get stuck in traffic.
An Islamic speaker-the end of a perfect day,huh?

Well said, Michael.

Bloomberg behaves as though CAIR were paying him.

During WW2 Bloomberg,like Debbie Wasserman-Schultz,would have been a Judenrat.If you don't know what that is,look it up.