As the names are read out, the wind catches them indiscriminately... Gordon Aamoth... Edel-miro Abad... snatches of some are lost forever... Gertrude Alagero.

Others are caught on a blast, bouncing back and forth off those skyscrapers that remain. It sounds as if they're reluctant to leave The Pit, the eight-storey chasm which is all that is left of the 110-storey Twin Towers.

Scott Cahill... Thomas Cahill... eventually they're blown away, disappearing somewhere into the blue Manhattan sky where a jet streaks like a silver bullet in the sunshine... Sharon Carver.

The wind, getting stronger all the time, tugs at the Stars and Stripes which are everywhere around Ground Zero... Nestor Andre Cintron III...

It bends the stems, but never breaks them, and it flaps at thousands of patriotic T-shirts, ties, headbands and caps that crowd the sidewalk.

Charles Costello... it tears dust out of The Pit, where 24,000 relatives remember the 2,801 names, and flings it down the streets around Ground Zero, the same streets through which thousands of people ran exactly a year ago to escape the clouds of debris caused by the towers tumbling.

Elizabeth Darling... this new dust stings the eyes of the thousands on the sidewalk, making them cry even if they didn't want to as wave after wave of names washes over them... Robert Ferris... David Ferrugio.

The wind, the tail of tropical storm Gustav, which has lashed the Carolina coast, toys with a home-made poster stuck on the fence of St Paul's Chapel opposite Ground Zero.

Linda George... the poster is dedicated to the memory of a Brooklyn firefighter. It's as if it were yesterday, but yesterday never ended, it says.

Andrew Gilbert... before any more can be read, the wind finishes its game and rips the poster off the fence and sends it into the air where it joins the snatches of names spiralling around... Barry Glick... Jeremy Glick.

And still the names come... Mary Lou Hague... they started reading them at just after 8.46am when, a year ago, the first plane, loaded with 10,000 gallons of fuel, exploded into the first tower.

Peter Hanson... the names cover 198 sheets of paper and an hour after they started they've still only reached H'Abid Hussain... so many, so many, sobs a man clutching a barrier.

Taizo Ishikawa... names from 88 countries, from every religion and none, representing every colour, shade, shape and size of human... Ernest James.

This anniversary commemoration is an extraordinary experience: the wind, the dust, the scream of sirens from over westside, the clatter of choppers overhead... Kacinga Kabeya.

The subway beneath the earth rocks the sidewalk and hot steam belches out of the ground level vents... Nathaniel Lawson... the gale is amplified by the microphone so it makes a terrifying groaning rumble through which the names keep pouring... Gavin McMahon... Robert McMahon.

The commemoration began at 1am when bagpipers left every corner of New York City, parading towards Ground Zero, piping in memory of the 343 firefighters who died a year ago, their mournful noise swirling around the streets like early morning mist... Shawn Nassaney... to visit NYC is to understand the city's fascination with firefighters.

Every building has a huge hydrant at ground level because, when you live in the skies, fire beneath your feet is your most terrifying nightmare... Pete Negron... and every firehouse in town is a shrine, with crowds pushing to read the roles of honour of the lost... Kapinga Ngalula.

At 10.29am, the time when the second tower fell, the reading of the names stops, as a blaze of firetruck horns and a peel of church bells marks the moment... Nancy Yuen Ngo... they're barely halfway through the letter N... Soichi Numata.

They take up again, the wind howling through the microphone, still tearing at the Stars and Stripes, still whipping up dust, still sending snatches of names spinning away with the paper litter... Marjorie Salamone.

Eventually, at 11.20am, the last names are spoken to be blown by the gale... Andrew Zucker. Thousands break their silence with applause and join in the chorus , God bless America... Igor Zukelman... and every god bless every country in every corner of this deeply troubled world.