"I come every single year," Mary Bolton, said. "My husband worked at Cantor Fitzgerald. He was not there that day."
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Eyewitness News reporter Kristin Thorne witnessed as people wept, held each other and prayed during the morning ceremony.
One man was so emotional, he couldn't put into words how he was feeling.
RELATED | NYC marks 21 years since 9/11 attacks
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"What can I say?" he said. "I lost so many friends that day."
The beach at Point Lookout was shoulder-to-shoulder with people as it seems to be when 9/11 falls on a weekend.
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Phil Alvarez, the brother of the late Luis Alvarez, spoke to the crowd.
"To those who ran in, to those who dug, to those who fed, consoled, washed down, said a kind word, held up a sign," he said, " to all of them, I say thank you, thank you for being there."
RELATED | 9/11 21 years later: Reflections, photos and stories
Following the ceremony, many people stopped at the memorial wall to see the names of the people they lost.
"I have a bunch of friends that passed that day unfortunately," Kathy Schwarting, of East Rockaway, said. "I come every year just to say hello."
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