Photo gallery: 9/11 Memorial opens to public
The 9/11 Memorial in New York City opened to the public for the first time on Monday, Sept. 12, 2011.
Sept 11 Memorial Plaza
A woman places her hand on a name etched in the wall of one of the pools at the 9/11 memorial plaza in the World Trade Center site in New York Monday, Sept. 12, 2011, on the first day that the memorial was opened to the public. (AP Photo/Mike Segar, Pool)
Sept 11 Memorial Plaza
Visitors make etchings of the names of victims inscribed on the wall surrounding one of the pools at the 9/11 memorial plaza in the World Trade Center site in New York Monday, Sept. 12, 2011, on the first day that the memorial was opened to the public. (AP Photo/Mike Segar, Pool)
911 Memorial
The 9/11 Memorial in New York, New York, was opened to the public for the first time on Monday, September 12, 2011. The north pool of the memorial is in the shadow of the unfinished Freedom Tower. (Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times/MCT)
Sept 11 Memorial Plaza
Visitors looks over one of the pools at the 9/11 memorial plaza in the World Trade Center site in New York Monday, Sept. 12, 2011, on the first day that the memorial was opened to the public. (AP Photo/Mike Segar, Pool)
Sept 11 Memorial Plaza
Olivia Norton, left, and Aubrey Finamore, children of Amy Norton and Peter Finamore, whose cousin Kevin Bracken was killed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks, play near stone benches on the first day that the 9/11 memorial plaza was opened to the public at the World Trade Center site in New York, Monday, Sept. 12, 2011. (AP Photo/Mike Segar, Pool)
Sept 11 Memorial Plaza
Visitors look over one of the pools at the 9/11 memorial plaza in the World Trade Center site in New York Monday, Sept. 12, 2011, on the first day that the memorial was opened to the public. (AP Photo/Mike Segar, Pool)
Dick Cheney
Former Vice President Dick Cheney, center, pauses by a bronze plaque inscribed with the names of the victims of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, during a tour of the National September 11 Memorial, Monday, Sept. 12, 2011, in New York. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Sept 11 Memorial Plaza
A visitor to the National September 11 Memorial at the World Trade Center site makes a rubbing of a name in New York, Monday, Sept. 12, 2011. The 9/11 memorial plaza opened its gates at 10 a.m. under tight, airport-style security. Visitors were allowed to walk among hundreds of white oak trees on the eight-acre site and gaze at the water on the exact spots where the World Trade Center's twin towers stood. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Sept 11 Memorial Plaza
Visitors make etchings of the names of victims inscribed on the wall surrounding one of the pools at the 9/11 memorial plaza in the World Trade Center site in New York Monday, Sept. 12, 2011, on the first day that the memorial was opened to the public. (AP Photo/Mike Segar, Pool)
Sept 11 Memorial Plaza
A visitor looks over one of the pools at the 9/11 memorial plaza in the World Trade Center site in New York Monday, Sept. 12, 2011, on the first day that the memorial was opened to the public. (AP Photo/Mike Segar, Pool)
Sept 11 Memorial Plaza
Visitors stand near the north pool at the 9/11 memorial plaza in the World Trade Center site in New York Monday, Sept. 12, 2011, on the first day that the memorial was opened to the public. (AP Photo/Mike Segar, Pool)
911 Memorial
The 9/11 Memorial in New York, New York, was opened to the public for the first time on Monday, September 12, 2011. The north pool of the memorial is in the shadow of the unfinished Freedom Tower. (Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times/MCT)
Sept 11 Memorial Plaza
Greg Packer and Lisa Kennedy, who lost her father Michael in the attacks, make a rubbing of the name of Joseph Michael Doyle for Doyle's father Bill from one of the panels containing the names of the victims of the attacks, on the first day that the 9/11 memorial park was opened to the public at the World Trade Center site in New York, Monday, Sept. 12, 2011. (AP Photo/Mike Segar, Pool)
Sept 11 Memorial Plaza
A visitor looks over one of the pools at the 9/11 memorial plaza in the World Trade Center site in New York Monday, Sept. 12, 2011, on the first day that the memorial was opened to the public. (AP Photo/Mike Segar, Pool)
Sept 11 Memorial Plaza
The first public visitors to the National September 11 Memorial at the World Trade Center site line up to enter the plaza in front of One World Trade in New York, Monday, Sept. 12, 2011. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Michael Bloomberg
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, third from left, greets the first members of the public to visit the National September 11 Memorial at the World Trade Center site in New York, Monday, Sept. 12, 2011. The 9/11 memorial plaza opened its gates at 10 a.m. under tight, airport-style security. Visitors were allowed to walk among hundreds of white oak trees on the eight-acre site and gaze at the water on the exact spots where the World Trade Center's twin towers stood. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Sept 11 Memorial Plaza
Former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, right, listens to 9/11 Memorial President Joe Daniels, center, as he looks at one of the panels inscribed with the names of the attack victims during a visit to the 9/11 memorial plaza in the World Trade Center site in New York Monday, Sept. 12, 2011, on the first day that the memorial was opened to the public. (AP Photo/Mike Segar, Pool)
Sept 11 Memorial Plaza
An American flag hangs from partially-built 1 World Trade Center as visitors stroll the grounds of the 9/11 memorial plaza in the World Trade Center site in New York Monday, Sept. 12, 2011, on the first day that the National September 11 Memorial was opened to the public. (AP Photo/Mike Segar, Pool)
Sept 11 Memorial Plaza
Shauna Camp and Anthony Camp, who lost their uncle, Faustino Apostol Jr., in the 9/11 terrorist attacks, look at the panel inscribed with his name during the first day that the 911 memorial plaza was opened to the public at the World Trade Center site in New York, Monday, Sept. 12, 2011. (AP Photo/Mike Segar, Pool)
NEW YORK - Exactly 10 years ago, ground zero was a smoking, fire-spitting tomb, a ghastly pile of rubble and human remains.