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Their Monument Now Destroyed, 1993 Victims Are Remembered

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February 26, 2002, Section B, Page 2Buy Reprints
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Since 1995, six families have held a moment of remembrance at 12:18 p.m. on Feb. 26, gathering around a rose-colored granite memorial on the plaza of the World Trade Center. The spot was directly above the first ground zero at the trade center: the basement garage where a truck bomb was planted, killing six people, on Feb. 26, 1993.

That memorial, the plaza and the center were destroyed on Sept. 11, 2001.

Only a small fragment of the 1993 memorial has been recovered, said Charles Maikish, the former executive director of the trade center. This morning, that fragment will be taken to St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church on Barclay Street for a Mass of remembrance for those killed in the 1993 bombing.

All that is visible on the fragment is the word ''John,'' Mr. Maikish said -- half of the inscription memorializing John DiGiovanni.

Mr. DiGiovanni, a dental supply salesman, had just parked his car in the garage when the bomb went off. Also killed were William Macko, Monica Rodriguez Smith, Steve Knapp, Robert Kirkpatrick, and Wilfredo Mercado. All their names were inscribed on a monument that circled around the fountain.

After the 1993 bombings, Mr. Maikish, now a senior official with J. P. Morgan Chase, oversaw major renovations to the staircases for speedier evacuations. He and other officials at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey believed that the trade center would remain a prime target for terrorists.

''What happened Sept. 11 was the culmination of an attack that started in 1993,'' Mr. Maikish said.

He said that he and others at the Port Authority, the owners of the trade center, took threats made by the 1993 bombers very seriously, recalling that more attacks were vowed. A letter found on the computer of Nidal Ayyad, a New Jersey engineer convicted in the 1993 plot, expressed regret that the towers had not toppled but promised to continue to try.

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section B, Page 2 of the National edition with the headline: Their Monument Now Destroyed, 1993 Victims Are Remembered. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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