New Zealand firefighters performed a powerful haka in Auckland on Wednesday to honor the 9/11 first responders.
The group were filmed in their service uniforms in two rows as they performed the Maori tradition. A crowd of dignitaries and other firefighters dressed in their operational gear and were seen watching on.
Hakas are generally performed as a sign of great respect and are often presented at funerals, celebrations or sporting events.
Over 200 firefighters climbed Auckland’s Sky Tower as a tribute to those who died in the attacks on the World Trade Centre. Three chiefs from the New York Fire Department also attended the event.
Meanwhile, Americans commemorated 9/11 with solemn ceremonies and vows Wednesday to ‘never forget’ 18 years after the deadliest terror attack on American soil. Victims’ relatives assembled at Ground Zero, where the observance began with a moment of silence and the tolling of bells at 8:46 a.m. – the exact time a hijacked plane slammed into the World Trade Center’s north tower.
‘As long as the city will gift us this moment, I will be here,’ Margie Miller, who lost her husband, Joel, said at the ceremony, which she attends every year. ‘I want people to remember.’ After so many years of anniversaries, she has come to know other victims’ relatives and to appreciate being with them.
‘There’s smiles in between the tears that say we didn’t do this journey on our own, that we were here for each other,’ she said.
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