- Title: USA: Boston marks bombing anniversary with somber ceremony
- Date: 15th April 2014
- Summary: CHOIR SINGING
- Embargoed: 30th April 2014 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Usa
- Country: USA
- Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
- Reuters ID: LVA6PDS6C6TGSZEPR2C0VU4812TT
- Story Text: U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, other leaders and survivors of the Boston Marathon bombing shared messages of thanks and defiance on Tuesday (April 15) at a tribute to the three people killed and 264 wounded in the attack exactly one year ago.
From Patrick Downes, who lost a leg when a pair of homemade bombs ripped through the crowds at the race's finish line, to Biden, speakers recalled how those on the scene, from police officers to spectators, reacted immediately to help the wounded amid the chaos on April 15, 2013.
Biden, who had also spoken at a memorial service for the slain officer soon after the attacks, sounded a note of defiance in his remarks. He said events like those at the marathon or the 2001 destruction of New York's World Trade Center and attack on the Pentagon demonstrate the resolve of average Americans and infuriated those who tried to instill fear.
"We refuse to bend, refuse to change, refuse to yield to fear. You are Boston Strong, but America is strong. They are not unlike you. All around America. That is what makes us so proud of this city and this state, what makes me be so proud to be an American. It's that we have never, ever yielded to fear."
Former Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, who managed the response to the attack in the final year of his two decades in office, recalled the struggles of the families of Martin Richard, 8, Krystle Campbell, 29, and Chinese national Lu Lingzi, 23, who died in the largest mass-casualty attack on U.S. soil since Sept. 11, 2001.
"You have struggled to get through the good days and the bad," said Menino, who had been hospitalized at the time of the blasts but responded to the scene against his doctor's orders. "I know because so many of you have told me about this year of firsts. First birthday without your beloved son, first holiday without your daughter, first July 4 where the fireworks scared you."
Governor Deval Patrick said the morning's memorial celebrated the sense of community and outpouring of love following the attacks.
"There are no strangers here. In the days and weeks after the marathon last year, we were reminded how few degrees of separation there are between us," Patrick said.
Downes, who had been standing near the finish line with his wife when the bombs went off, causing each to lose a leg, told the audience that he had been impressed by the city's outpouring of support for the wounded.
"To our fellow survivor community, what would we do without each other. We should have never met this way but we are so grateful for each other. We have shared our despair, sense of loss and challenges as well as our hope, gratitude and triumphs. We have been there for each other and will continue to be there to pick each other up and celebrate milestones for years to come" Downes said.
This year's Boston Marathon, set for April 21, will take place under heightened security, with the 36,000 runners and tens of thousands of expected spectators facing new restrictions, including bans on carrying backpacks into the race corridor.
Authorities say the ethnic Chechen brothers, Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, carried their bombs to the finish line in backpacks.
Three days after the attack, the FBI released pictures of the suspected bombers and asked for the public's help in finding them. That prompted the Tsarnaev brothers to attempt a hasty flight from Boston, which began with them shooting MIT police officer Collier, prosecutors said.
The resulting police chase ended in a gunbattle in the Boston suburb of Watertown. Tamerlan, 26, was killed; Dzhokhar, now 20, escaped before being captured on April 19.
The surviving brother is awaiting trial on charges that carry the possibility of execution if he is convicted. - Copyright Holder: POOL (CAN SELL)
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