ground zero where it was heavily damaged. the white spots turned gray. it had rips and tears. all this year jeff and his group, new york says thank you, have been going around the country repairing it spot by spot with flags that have flown over other disaster sites and things like that. this portion of the flag flew over pearl harbor when it was bombed. this section right here, this flew at martin luther king jr.'s funeral. that was the georgia patch. you can see on the far side there there's active duty military people. they are sewing a part of the flag that flew over the pentagon on september 11th. and, you know, the spirit here, nobody here is talking about terrorists or war or anything. everybody here is talking about the day after september 11th when we saw so much unity and so much bravery by first responders. and that's really the spirit i think that what they want to do is reclaim that from history and be able to have that be as much a part of the story as terrorists or war or anything along those lines, anderson. >> jim, i appreciate that. one of the things we were talking about before is i do think on this day and in the years ahead it's not the names of terrorists that americans remember, nor necessarily are they important. they have disappeared in history and will. tights victims here whose names should be remembered and the names, obviously, of the victims etched in bronze here. there's been another memorial observance going on further uptown in new york. special correspondent at the firemen's memorial in new york. it's about seven miles north of the world trade center site. we'll take you there next. soledad o'brien joins us now. soledad, is the memorial still going on there? >> reporter: you know, it's interesting. the memorial itself has wrapped up, but what we have here are firefighters who have driven in, in many cases, on their motorcycles to be part of the celebration here. it's almost remarkable. they did this convoy of motorcycles right down riverside drive, where you're right, anderson, about eight miles north of where you are. so after the memorial ended and many of the firefighters from the fdny went off to church, folks from, you know, every state, literally every single state, plus i've seen firefighters from germany and from france and canada and australia, are here and taking an opportunity to check out the firefighters memorial, which is really the centerpiece of the event that was here today is remarkable. we wanted to tell the story today of a woman named regina wilson, a firefighter whose story we tell in a document that we have airing tonight at 10:00 p.m. on cnn. we wanted to look at the role of women at ground zero who served and as part of our documentary we told the story of regina wilson. take a look. >> my name is regina wilson, and i am a firefighter for the city of new york. >> good morning! >> who here knows what a firefighter does? >> these manhattan kindergartners are too young to have witnessed the terror or the heroism of 9/11. >> if you want to do anything at all, you can do it. >> regina's challenge is convincing these girls that the value of serving is greater than the danger. >> these are all women. they're holding -- see this hose line here? >> brenda berkman fought for that right in 1979 when she sued the fire department for gender discrimination. >> ready to go? >> ready. >> let's get that over the edge. >> 12 years ago, regina joined engine 219 in brooklyn, a beneficiary of brenda's lawsuit. >> sir, can you please put your arms around my neck? >> she became the first firefighter in her family. >> this is not an easy job. >> right. >> and it's a scary job and it's a job where you could die on the job. >> right. >> why is it something that you fought to be part of? >> because i think it's a cause worthy of that. everyone needs somebody to look out for them. and i think, like, the purest part of my job is when i'm in uniform because you can't tell my race, you can't tell my gender. >> regina hopes more women will follow her into firefighting. yet ten years after 9/11, the fire department has fewer female firefighters. how many female firefighters are there in the city? >> 29. and there's a little closer to 11,000. >> 29. >> so we're not even a percentage. hi, i'm regina. >> the fire department recently launched a recruiting drive. regina is always looking for new female firefighters. >> i always feel like i'm doing something for my community. >> reporter: regina has now left her firestation temporarily because she's focusing full-time on recruiting because only every four years do they give the firefighters test. she wants to make sure her face is out there so many other women will see her face and realize firefighting is a great job for women, as well. >> anderson? >> how "stuff" is it for a woman to join the new york city fire department? is it the same test that male firefighters have to go through? >> reporter: it is. and what's interesting, when you talk to regina and see her workout regime -- she said many people think the job is just physical, and it is, but it's physical and a woman who's strong can do it, and she is a strong woman. we follow her through her workouts and see that she is able to do exactly what everyone else is able to do. what's also interesting is the changes in the last ten years in the fire department, which is there's much more emphasis placed on book learning. keep in mind the massive amount of experience that was lost when 343 firefighters lost their lives on 9/11. that was tons of experience. so the idea of learning on the job, which is the way things were done, you know, ten years ago and before that, that's really changed. the focus has changed. there's not the people we were told that really could do that across the board at all the firestations. they focus much more on training people before they go out and start the job. it's not learning on the job. things have changed a lot to a large degree in firehouses across new york city. >> soledad, is there a theory as to why there are so few women? i'm certain there are a fewer number of women who apply compared to men. >> they believe it's completely about recruitment, especially here in new york, where firefighting is a job that is often passed down from father to son, father to son. they really want to get more women's faces out there so we can see that women are doing the job. there are some cities like san francisco and the city, miami-dade, for example, that had as high as 15%, 15% of the firefighting force is female. so they believe those numbers are changeable. it's just going to be a matter of really aggressively recruiting women for what is a terrific job. [ applause ] that noise, by the way, over my shoulder at the memorial here at riverside is a number of speeches now and people making presentations. literally one of the most beautiful memorials in new york city, the firefighters memorial, which was placed there in 1913, and the last ten years it's where firefighter have come to pay their respects to the 343 firefighters who died. i hope they all have a chance to watch our document tonight at 10:00 p.m. eastern, "beyond bravery: women at ground zero." >> soledad, thanks. >> thanks, soledad. we want to remind our viewers, "fareed zakaria: gps" is still to come in its entirety when we wrap up our coverage here. just ahead, canine search-and-rescue dogs were a common sight here ten years ago, sniffing through the wreckage of the world trade center on september 11th. next up, a memorial commemorating their contributions. ♪ [ doug ] i got to figure this out. i want to focus on innovation. but my data is doubling. my servers are maxed out. i need to think about something else when i run. 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[ trapp ] creating an experience instead of just a meal that's endless shrimp. my name is angela trapp. i'm a server at red lobster and i sea food differently. you are looking at pictures of the president of the united states and first lady michelle obama at shanksville at the memorial there. talk about your pastoral scene, it gives you a sense of how far away. we had two cities attacked and then here where that was that horrendous fight in the cockpit that went down in rural shanksville, pennsylvania. >> president obama and michelle obama were here at the world trade site earlier this morning along with former president bush and his wife, laura, and their daughters. they'll also go to pentagon with first lady michelle obama for a commemoration ceremony there. survivors of the 9/11 terror attacks tell remarkable stories about finding their way to safety. michael hayden looks inside the world trade center but never saw neigh because he's blind and got out with the help of his guide dog. he told the story to cnn's alina cho. >> reporter: the images are sered in our collective memory. for michael hingson, 9/11 was not about what he saw but what he heard. blind since birth, he was working on the 78th floor of the north tower when 18 floors above him the first plane struck. when did you first realize that something was wrong? >> instantly, because what happened was that we heard a muffled explosion, the building shuddered and then if you imagine my arm as the tower it just started tipping and it kept tipping and tipping and tipping. we moved about 20 feet. >> reporter: he knew he had to get out. he also knew he needed help. so he turned to his lifeline, guide dog rozell, his constant companion for 12 years. >> i took her leash, i told her to heel, which meant come on my left side and sit, which she did. about that time the building dropped straight down about six feet. >> reporter: with time running out, hinkson made his way to stairwell b and began his decent. 1,364 steps. >> that's what i calculate. i don't count stairs. but 77 flights, i calculated 1,463. >> reporter: along the way, a critical clue -- a familiar odor. >> it wasn't something that i expected to encounter in the world trade center. finally i realized that's what i smell when i go to an airport. >> reporter: jet fuel. >> we assumed we were hit by an airplane, but we had no information. >> reporter: scared for his life, somehow he remained calm. so roselle wouldn't panic. >> if i started acting nervous, if i started sounding fearful, that would have made roselle nervous. she depends on me to be focused. her job is to make sure we walk safely, not to know where i want to go. so i have to give her commands. the more confident i am, the more comfortable she is. >> reporter: his calm helped keep his co-workers focused, too. >> david kept shouting, we have to get out of here. i said, slow down we're going to evacuate in an orderly way. you have the picture, right? the sighted guy seeing all this stuff going on and the blind guy saying we'll get out of here but in an orderly way. at one point on the stairs we all stopped because a woman near us said i can't go on, i can't breathe, we're not going to make it out. we stopped and had a group hug. >> reporter: what haunts him the most ten years late rer memories of running into firemen who were headed up into the hell above. >> he petted roselle. she gave him some kisses, which was probably the last unconditional love he ever got in his life. if he made it out, i never heard it. >> reporter: 45 minutes after he began his escape, he made it to ground level. this is video his colleagues shot as they fled the north tower. by late afternoon, he and roselle found refuge at a friend's apartment. your story resonated with so many people around the world becau because of what people perceive to be the extraordinary nature of your escape. i don't sense you feel it was any more extraordinary than anyone else's escape. >> i think it was a miracle that so many people got out, how so many people worked together in the face of so many odds and working with roselle was one example of teamwork. >> reporter: alina cho, cnn, new york. >> extraordinary that so many people were able to get out alive. on that day we all worried about the numbers of potential casualties, body bags, 30,000, i think, body bags. thankfully the numbers were not nearly that bad. many four-legged heros in the aftermath of 9/11, canine search-and-rescue dogs a common sight sniffing through the wreckage of the world trade center. a lot of photographs of the dogs that worked. the dogs worked tirelessly to find and recover victims. many of those dogs are being honored today in new jersey. professionals who served during the 9/11 disaster. let's listen in to some of the reading of the names, the final reading of the names this morning. this afternoon at the world trade center site. >> andrew sergio paulos. >> peter vega and my late husband, james patrick ladley. we were blessed to have you in our life, jimmy. we will miss you and will never forget you. thank you for my two beautiful children. i honor your memory by keeping them close to heart just like you. alan l. busineiznowski. god bless america. ♪ i will remember you will you remember me don't let your life ♪ ♪ pass you by weep not for the memory ♪ ♪ i'm so tired but i can't sleep standing on the edge ♪ ♪ of something much too deep we feel so much but cannot say a word ♪ ♪ we are screaming inside we can't be heard i will remember you ♪ ♪ i will remember will you remember me i will remember ♪ ♪ don't let your life pass you by weep not for ♪ ♪ the memories remember the good times that we had ♪ ♪ don't let them slip away from us when things got bad ♪ ♪ once there was a darkness a deep and endless night ♪ ♪ you gave me everything you gave me light i will remember you ♪ ♪ i will remember will you remember me i will remember ♪ ♪ don't let your life pass you by weep not for ♪ ♪ the memories don't let your life pass you by ♪ ♪ weep not for the memories ♪ ♪ i will remember you generations do not cease to be born, and we are responsible to them because we are the only witnesses that they have. the sea rises. the light fails. lovers cling to each other. and children cling to us. the moment we cease to hold each other, the moment we break faith with one another, the sea ungulfs us and the light goes out. [ "taps" is played ] >> crowds have begun to thin out, family members, though, still remaining, "taps" is played. it has been an extraordinary several hours here at the site of the world trade center. the new towers rising. the foot prints of the old towers still remain. wolf blitzer is at the pentagon. soledad o'brien is at the firemens memorial further uptown in manhattan. soledad, a different ceremony you are witnessing today but extremely emotional, as well, for the hundreds of firefighters who attended, thousands, probably, to honor the more than 340 firefighters who lost their lives during 9/11. >> reporter: yeah. you know, they really wanted the event today here at 100th and riverside to be not about speeches and not about politicians. they told me that several times. they said this is about firemen, firefighters honoring firefighters and remembering firefighters. and so that's what they did. they had a simple and very beautiful ceremony, and it was not punctuated by anyone talking or anything other than people just really ek pressing their remarkable support for the heroic actions of the 343 firefighters who lost their lives on that day. the last ten years they've come to this firefighters memorial to hold, you know, a kind of mostly sort of private event, really, just for firefighters and their families. and they say they'll be back again next year doing the same thing, remembering people in a very simple way because that's ultimately what it's all about. anderson? >> and, wolf, at the pentagon, where president obama will be arriving later, again, another solemn memorial. >> reporter: very solemn, very moving. ten years, hard to believe, anderson, it's been ten years since 9/11. that moment when we first learned what was going on, something all of us who lived through it will never forget. you know, i'm struck by the fact that during these ten years something didn't happen that i assumed would happen often over the ten years, another spectacular terrorist attack against americans in the united states. that has not happened, and all of us are grateful for all those who prevented that from happening over this past decade. at the same time, i'm also haunt fw ed by fact there are still individuals out there, terrorists out there, whether lone wolves or organized groups who hate the united states, who hate america, and would like nothing more than to once again undertake this kind of terror attack against the united states, perhaps even something more dramatic, even something more deadly. so even though al qaeda may be on the ropes right now, there are still people out there who hate the united states and all of us, of course, have to appreciate that as we go forward, which will be for a very, very long time with the so-called constant concern about terrorism. anderson? >> and today we also want to keep in mind the day -- this was a day of work for thousands of new york city police officers, port authority personnel as well as national guard personnel. and our thoughts and our appreciation go out to them and owl the members of our fighting forces who are serving overseas, keeping us and many around the world safe. >> now 2,977 people died ten years ago today. i know there will be a time moving forward in history where this day doesn't have the emotional attachment, the personal emotional attachment and sadness that it has. but ten years is not nearly long enough. >> yeah, it certainly is not, nor likely will it ever be. for candy crowley, wolf blitzer, john king, soledad o'brien, and all our correspondents, thank you for watching. our coverage for our viewers in the united states. "fareed zakaria: gps" is next. and becky anderson takes over the memorial coverage for our international viewers. thanks very much. thinking about what had caused the attack, what had explained this monstrous evil. that's how 9/11 was discussed and analyzed at the time, mostly with a focus on them. >> and the people who took these buildings down will hear all of us soon. >> who are they? why are they so enraged? what do they want? what will stop them from hating us? >> but if 9/11 was focused at the time on them, ten years later the discussion is mostly about us -- what is america's position in the world today? are we safer? are we stronger? was it worth it? some of these questions are swirling around because the u.s. is mired in tough economic times and at such moments the mood is introspective, not outward looking. some of it is because of the success in the war against al qaeda, the threat from islamic terrorism still seems real but more manageable and contained. but history will probably record this period not as one characterized by al qaeda and islamic terrorism. >> against al qaeda training camps. >> that will get a few paragraphs or a chapter. the main story will be about the fate of the united states of america. 50 years from now, we might even look at 9/11 as simply the beginning of the decline of america as the world's unrivaled hegemony. on the day before 9/11, the united states was at peace, had a large budget surplus, and oil was trad