On Tuesday, September 11, 2001, two of the world’s tallest buildings – the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center – collapsed due to a terrorist attack – creating a sixteen acre pile of one and a half million tons of twisted steel. Now, exactly two hundred and forty-seven days later – the very last piece of wreckage, a single support beam, was carried out of Ground Zero in a somber memorial yesterday – ending the largest recovery and cleanup effort in our nation’s history.

Being a Public Information Officer and a former employee of the Office of Emergency Management, I was called back to OEM once again for yesterday’s ceremony – giving me a chance to witness the final goodbye. As I arrived at Ground Zero yesterday morning and saw the dozens of satellite trucks that lined the sides of the West Side Highway – I knew that this ceremony would come with it’s usual media circus – but when the ceremony began – I forgot all about the media – and was reminded once again of how much the attack on the World Trade Center has drastically changed our world.

When the ceremony began, ten Ground Zero workers carried a stretcher with an American Flag draped on it – symbolizing the one thousand seven hundred and twenty six people whose remains will never be found – including the remains of Douglas Farnum, my best friend. And when these ten people began to carry the flag laden stretcher up the long ramp that leads out of Ground Zero, which was lined with hundreds of firefighters, policemen and construction workers – nobody said a word. Over twenty thousand people watched the ceremony from all sides of the World Trade Center site – and for the entire twenty-nine minute ceremony – not a single sound was heard – except for the silent screams of pain that were uttered by every person who died on that awful day.

After the stretcher was loaded into the awaiting ambulance, the truck carrying the final piece of debris made it’s way up the ramp behind the ambulance. Draped in a black cloth and an American flag – the single foundation support beam represented the final piece of the two most recognized buildings in the world – that were now nothing but a memory – and a reminder of what this country was before it was forever altered on one fateful day.

I think the most amazing part of the ceremony was the moment when those who lined the ramp leading out of Ground Zero began to follow the truck carrying the last beam. As soon as the hundreds of construction workers, firefighters and policemen – all who worked tirelessly at Ground Zero since the day of the attack – began to join in the precession – the silence I described earlier was replaced with a rush of applause that seem to get louder as each worker joined the moving memorial. As I heard the applause, I also joined in the well deserved cheers for those men and women who performed the most gruesome, arduous – and noble task of any person who has ever worked in this country. For close to one year, those dedicated Americans sifted through millions of tons or rubble searching for human remains. Whether it was hot or cold, day or night, sunny or stormy – and despite the enormous emotional toll that a task like that can have on a person – each and every one of those workers did their duty – and brought us to yesterday’s closing ceremony very far ahead of schedule.

After the ceremony was over, I looked at the site from the ten story perch I was stationed at and saw the most unreal thing I have seen since this attack was perpetrated over nine months ago – I saw the former site of the World Trade Center and the current site of the world’s most horrific attack – completely empty. For the first time since the towers collapsed – the site stood silent without a living soul on the entire sixteen acres. They say silence is deafening – and in this case – that statement could not be more truthful. Here was a sixteen acre site that on September 11th – was a scene of absolute terror. In that same spot just two hundred and forty seven days earlier – buildings were on fire, people were jumping to their deaths – and thousands were killed when the Twin Towers fell to the ground. And now – the same site stands empty and silent as an ominous reminder of the true power of hate.

As I have stated before, that site should remain exactly what it is now, a silent and permanent memorial to all those who lost their lives there. To build upon that site is total desecration to everyone that lost their lives on that now sacred land. Of course, plans are already underway to rebuild there, which turns my stomach so much – that I made a vow to myself that if buildings are ever erected over Ground Zero – I will never, ever set foot in them – because doing so would be, to me, spitting on Doug’s grave and on the graves of each and every person who died there two hundred and forty eight days ago today.

So with yesterday’s ceremony marking the end of recovery and the beginning of rebuilding – my job at Ground Zero is over – but at least I got a chance to be there when America said goodbye.