Mayor Zohran Mamdani led thousands across the Brooklyn Bridge on Sunday in a walk and run remembering the military personnel who served the city post 9/11.
Although the solemn ceremony remembering the lives lost during the horrific World Trade Center terror attack concluded on Friday, the city was not done remembering the sacrifices of those who aided the Big Apple in the days following its darkest hour. Dubbed the Remembrance Ruck, the inaugural event also honored those who have lost their lives serving the country.
Kicking off in Brooklyn’s Walt Whitman Park, members of the military and everyday New Yorkers gathered early in the morning in preparation for the trek. The ruck saw participants carry a rucksack on their backs filled with equipment out of respect for the military. While some ran in jogging outfits, others ran in full army fatigues, with one man even making the ruck in a full gas mask.
Before the event began, Mamdani addressed the crowd and the importance of coming together even days after the 25th anniversary of 9/11.
“I know that this ruck will be difficult, but that is exactly why we are here. After all, we have come together to remember and honor those who sacrificed so much for us, those who endured immense hardship, and it is only fair that for a few minutes we feel a small fraction of the same,” Hizzoner said. “As we set across the Brooklyn Bridge, with the Manhattan skyline before us. I want to ask something of each of us. There will be a moment on this bridge where the weight in our ruck starts to drag us down, where our legs get heavy, where the finish feels far away. In that moment, do not push that doubt away. Sit with it, and then think of all those who served, each of whom carried unimaginable weights, each of whom felt countless moments of uncertainty and doubt, and let their perseverance and resolve give us strength.”
The sky opened up, and a deluge of rain poured over the mayor and the many spectators below. Still, all stood steadfast and unrelenting to nature as they listened to the speech.
Mamdani continued by acknowledging military members who made a massive difference while responding to 9/11, including those who rescued first responders.
“When the suffering was so vast, the pile was a jagged field of rubble and fire. It was hard to imagine that anyone could have survived; it was even harder to imagine searching somewhere so dangerous. But two Marines, Jason Thomas and Dave Karnes, did not hesitate. And when two trapped Port Authority police officers were finally found, the first words they heard were, ‘Is anyone down there? United States Marines,’” Mamdani said. “It would have been the same thing that so many New Yorkers saw over the weeks and months that followed. Members of the armed services standing next to firefighters and police officers and construction workers, working side by side to help our city recover and to help our city rebuild.”
After the preparations, a sea of New Yorkers gathered behind the mayor who led the march over the Brooklyn Bridge. As he began to hit the span, he took off running, followed closely by veterans lugging their bags. While Mamdani jogged the entire route, some paid their respects by simply walking the way. The Ruck concluded at Manhattan’s Foley Square.
