Sunrise ceremony at Point Lookout Park honors those lost on 9/11

It was an emotional sunrise at Point Lookout Park Wednesday as mourners gathered for a second year to remember those who were lost during the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

The ceremony took place at the new memorial built in the park where all the victims from Long Island are etched on a wall. There is also a 30-foot steel beam installed there which recovered from the collapsed World Trade Center.

As part of the ceremony, mourners placed carnations around a steel beam.

Before the ceremony began, News 12 spoke with Todd Gleason from Island Park. He was a crane operator during the attacks and spent 27 straight days at Ground Zero.

“When I left there, we took the last piece of steel out. I haven’t been down there since. I can't go back down there. I just, I can't do it,” he said.

Many people gathered at the Point Lookout Park on September 11, 2001 and watched as the towers fell after they were impacted by two airliners filled with passengers.

Nearly 3,000 people perished on 9/11; 450 of the victims were from Long Island, including about 200 people from the Town of Hempstead.