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Gathering across the region to mark a solemn day of remembrance

On a day of solemn reflection on the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks, groups large and small gathered across the region to share expressions of grief, sorrow, defiance, and patriotism.

On a day of solemn reflection on the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks, groups large and small gathered across the region to share expressions of grief, sorrow, defiance, and patriotism.

In Lower Makefield Township, several thousand assembled to remember the 18 from Bucks County who were among the 2,973 who died. On the Delaware River in Camden, the Battleship New Jersey fired an earsplitting salute.

At the Betsy Ross House in Philadelphia, at churches and parks across the region, public officials, first responders, and survivors congregated to honor those who were lost, to remember a day they cannot forget.

And at Philadelphia International Airport, where officials marked the events that have profoundly changed aviation, the business of transporting passengers and cargo went on.

"I am not going to live my life in fear, and they are not going to stop me anymore than they stopped us 10 years ago," said Marci Hucul, 62, arriving on a 7 a.m. flight from Islip, N.Y., where she had been visiting her son.

It was a day of mixed emotions.

At the Cherry Hill Fire Administration Building, officials dedicated a 9/11 memorial that contains a piece of mangled beam from the World Trade Center's North Tower, symbolizing the nation's loss, but also its steely resolve.

"On Sept. 11, our nation witnessed an evil unlike any we had seen before - one we hope we never endure again," Cherry Hill Mayor Bernie Platt said.

At St. Davids Community Park in Radnor, police and firefighters in dress uniforms, American Legionnaires in blue caps, and Catholic schoolgirls in plaid skirts gathered to dedicate an eight-foot granite obelisk.

"Our monument here, while smaller in scale compared to New York's, is just as important," said John Fisher, president of the Radnor Board of Commissioners.

At a ceremony at Bethany United Church of Christ in Northeast Philadelphia, William Markert, a retired Philadelphia police officer, recalled finding a tattered and dirty American flag amid the World Trade Center debris he had been assigned to sift through for evidence.

"For the first time in several weekends of work," he said, "I had something to smile about." The restored flag is now at the National Law Enforcement Museum in Washington.

At the Betsy Ross House in Old City, Mayor Nutter thanked the "incredible patriots" who responded to the attacks, both at the scene as well as overseas.

Nutter urged attendees, "regardless of whether you agree or disagree" with armed conflicts, to thank those who volunteered to serve the country.

"When there is danger," he said, "they are running toward it, not away from it."

At the airport's International Arrivals Hall, officials and coworkers of some victims gathered to honor the thousands of lives lost, including 23 American Airlines employees who were killed on the jets flown into the North Tower and Pentagon.

"9/11 will forever be known as a day of tremendous pain and sadness at American," said Chuck Telles, the carrier's general manager in Philadelphia.

Robert McKenrick, acting federal security director of the Transportation Security Administration in Philadelphia, said the number of roving patrol officers, both uniformed and plainclothes, had been quadrupled in the last week, not just at the airport, but at transportation hubs throughout the region.

"Transportation is bigger than aviation," McKenrick said. He said TSA had more than 40 teams circulating among the airport, Amtrak, and truck terminals.

In Lower Makefield Township, thousands convened to dedicate the Garden of Reflection.

"The official memorial of the state is here because nine victims were from Lower Makefield, making it the hardest-hit community," said Lt. Gov. Jim Cawley, a Bucks native. Fifty-four victims were from Pennsylvania, including the 18 from Bucks.

The two-hour ceremony was subdued except for a rousing ovation for Marine Lt. Col. Thomas Armas, a Secret Service agent based at the World Trade Center 10 years ago who enlisted in the military after the attacks.

"I will never forgive those horrific acts, those acts of war," he said. "We're not victims, we will not be victims."

At 9:11 a.m., a ceremony was held at Cooper River Park that included a performance by the Collingswood Choir, a bell-ringing, and a large American flag with the names of all those who died.

At 10:29 a.m., 10 years to the minute after the trade center's North Tower collapsed, more than 30 naval officers stood silently on the deck of the Battleship New Jersey. They lowered a wreath of red, white, and blue flowers into the Delaware in a ceremony resembling a burial at sea.

Concetta Keebler, 50, of Turnersville, was among those who gathered on the retired warship.

"We need to be reminded," she said, wearing a shirt emblazoned with the American flag and holding a flag. "People died 10 years ago and we have to honor them. I feel people have become complacent."

In Medford, more than 150 people gathered in the afternoon at Freedom Park.

"I thought I had seen everything," said the Rev. Jack Koslowsky, 64, a former Camden police sergeant and retired Medford police chaplain who responded to New York City on the day of the attacks. He was assigned to minister to the Fire Department, which lost 343 firefighters and paramedics that day.

He told the crowd about the flood of emotions he felt upon seeing a convoy of refrigerated tractor-trailers and body bags at Liberty State Park in New Jersey.

He said he believed the nation's faith needed to be rededicated.

"We changed as a nation," he said. "I think we're drifting away."

or amaykuth@phillynews.com.

Inquirer staff writers Tom Infield and Bill Reed contributed to this article.