British victims of 9/11 mourned

12 April 2012

Hugging each other and holding back the tears, friends and family of the 67 British victims of the September 11 terror attacks gathered to pay their respects.

Five years on, the grief was evidently still as strong.

Mothers, fathers, husbands and wives as well as a number of children crowded round the permanent memorial to the victims in Grosvenor Square, central London, close to the US embassy.

Sixty-seven white roses represented each of the victims. A number of other floral tributes were laid before the names of those who died.

Cantor Fitzgerald, a company which lost hundreds in the attacks, sent a large bouquet of white lilies.

Culture secretary Tessa Jowell and US Ambassador Robert Tuttle led the mourners across the grassy square to the memorial garden.

Short speeches were made before a minute's silence was held at 13.46, the exact time the first plane hit one of the World Trade Centre towers.

Ms Jowell, who was clasping a large bouquet of white roses, quoted Philip Larkin from his poem Arundel Tomb. The last line read: "What will survive of us is love."

The culture secretary, who looked visibly moved throughout the short ceremony said: "In the years since, perhaps some of the rawness has healed. This garden has become a place of peace and remembrance."

She paid tribute to the bravery and strength of the families before hugging some of those she clearly knew well.

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