“It is the obligation of any memorial to tell the truth and to inspire visitors to learn of the events detailed.  A generic listing of the victims’ names will fail to do either. How and why the people at the World Trade Center died, and how those who responded to the call of duty served country and humanity must be faithfully memorialized.  Their loss and sacrifice obliges us to properly remember and honor them.

Please keep in mind that if there is no identification of the rescue workers as such, it may be that the only people remembered for sacrificing themselves that day would be, horribly, the terrorists.”

 the family of Capt. William F. Burke jr., Eng.21 

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Since the LMDC announced its guidelines for the 9/11 Memorial, it has received over 13,000 entries. Guidelines were published which have created difficulties, not only for the designers, but the families as well.

One problem being addressed is the allocation of land for the memorial.

At this time and despite the very public promise of Gov. Pataki, the tower footprints will be desecrated by either a bus terminal or a mall, or possibly both. The recovery site, known as the “bathtub” has been whittled down to about 4 acres. This is the area where the greatest amount of remains were found, going down to bedrock.That the LMDC and the administration are so eager to rebuild, only points up the incredible lack of respect for the tragedy of September 11th. How will this make us look in the eyes of the country and the world? New York State and New York City conspire to make the tragedy of Sept. 11th even worse by trying to bury it under office space, buses and Gap Jeans stores. Leading this battle is the Coalition of 9/11 families- and the 9/11WVFA. please see their website for more information For commentary go here

Another of the guidelines says that all victims will be listed by name only, without distinction, meaning that no worker, no firefighter, no policeman or PA officer will be identified.

Proponents of a strictly alphabetical listing claim that equal distinction will mean that all victims will be remembered equally as heroes. But “equal distinction” is an oxymoron and stripping the identity from  all the victims will not make anyone forget the extraordinary collective courage of NYC rescue workers. 9/11 was heartbreaking enough. Now for the families of rescue workers, the heartbreak is now double. True heroism implies a choice of action for good- not simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time. It is a choice that their loved ones made to help others- and now that sacrifice is being trivialized.

There is no reason everyone should not have some identifying information alongside their names. By denying their lives, the memorial renders  them faceless, unknowable and inhuman. Future visitors  will have no context, and hence, no real understanding of how truly tragic all these losses were.

Another advocacy group is Advocates for a 9/11 Fallen heroes Memorial. While different groups may have varying, one this they do agree- the bedrock must be protected, and there must be identifications.A memorial with no designations will make the fact that all these people died more important that the fact that they lived. Surely they deserve better than that.
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 NYC is blessed with the finest response people in the world- they have proven it many times over but nowhere near as definitively as on Sept.11, 2001. Identifying them properly, even listing them together is plain and simply the right thing to do. They gave what we asked - at the very least let us have the common sense to appreciate them, the decency to remember them and the good grace to thank them.