9th Anniversary of the 9/11 Terror Attacks

With emotions still raw and eyes still red, the 9/11 families marked nine years of mourning Saturday at a Ground Zero memorial where politics was mercifully missing.

The parents, children, uncles and aunts of the 2,752 victims intoned their loved ones’ names in a familiar yet melancholy ritual punctuated by tears, sobs and lingering loss.

“This is their grave site,” said Mary Novotny, 73, whose son, Brian, was among the 658 Cantor Fitzergald workers killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The family members stood side-by-side with the workers building the 9/11 Memorial, all making good on the city’s vow to never forget the day of devastation when the World Trade Center came down.

The four-hour service included only a few indirect comments about the day’s unavoidable backdrop: The contentious debate over building a $100 million community center and mosque just two blocks away.

“New York, please be mindful that this is a sacred site and should be respected as such,” said Elizabeth Mathers, who lost her father, Charles.

Robert Ferris, whose father also died in the top floors of the twin towers, offered a conciliatory message about “building bridges with other people to prevent this from happening again.”

Mayor Bloomberg, who has presided over each memorial service, was joined by Vice President Joe Biden for this year’s ceremony.

Biden met with Frank Dominguez, a Bronx man whose brother, Jerome – a member of the NYPD Emergency Service Unit – died during the rescue effort. His remains were never recovered.

The mourners gathered on a bright sunny morning reminiscent of the quiet Tuesday shattered by the attacks.

Ground Zero fell dead quiet four times, with moments of silence to mark the exact moments when each tower was hit – and when each collapsed into a pile of toxic rubble.

Many family members wore T-shirts with their loved ones’ pictures, or carried photos of the victims. They tossed roses into a pair of reflecting pools symbolizing the lost 110-story towers.

The passing years made the day less painful for at least a few.

“Time is the only thing that heals,” said Kathy Clark, whose brother, Christopher Allingham, died in the towers.

Juan Carlos Segarra, 36, felt just the opposite nearly a decade after his dad, Juan, perished in the north tower: “It never gets easier.”

Actress Kristin Chenoweth received an ovation after performing the song “Borrowed Angels,” with the apropos lyric, “Their love goes on and on, so why do they go so soon?”

The service ended with a poignant if peculiar musical pairing: A choir singing Warren Zevon’s dying lament, “Keep Me In Your Heart,” followed by three buglers playing a mournful “Taps.”

Memorials were also held yesterday at the two other sites where Americans died on Sept. 11 – Pentagon, with President Obama as a guest, and in Shanksville, Pa., with First Lady Michelle Obama and her predecessor, Laura Bush.

The president marked the occasion with a call for tolerance.

“As Americans we are not – and never will be – at war with Islam,” the president said. “It was not a religion that attacked us that September day – it was Al Qaeda, a sorry band of men which perverts religion.”