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CNN Sunday Morning

Thousands Prepare for Memorial Service at Ground Zero

Aired October 28, 2001 - 07:05   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Back in New York, the family members of the World Trade Center victims, some 2,000 people are expected to be in lower Manhattan this afternoon. They'll be attending a memorial service for victims of the September 11 attacks.

CNN national correspondent Gary Tuchman is live at Ground Zero this morning to tell a little about what's going to happen today.

Good morning, Gary.

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, good morning to you. The smoke still continues to rise behind me. The smell is pungent and the site is still unbelievable. This is Ground Zero, the ruins of the World Trade Center. This is where up to 4,700 people were brutally murdered on September 11, and most of those people are still missing. And that makes this sacred ground for the family members, the grieving family members.

And that's why a memorial service will be held today, six weeks and five days after this happened, right where we stand. There will be 5,000 seats set up behind us. Frankly, they don't know how many people will show up because many of the family members say it would just be too hard to come here for this memorial service.

Now even today, funerals and other memorial services are still being held. We want to tell you the story of a memorial service that was held for one young man a few weeks ago and for the family that held it. The day it was held used to be a very happy day.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TUCHMAN (voice-over): This is the day Jonathan Cappello would have turned 24. Instead it's the day his parents and hundreds of others remembered his life.

CLAUDIA CAPPELLO, VICTIM'S MOTHER: Jonathan loved -- loved life. From the time they handed him to me on September 29, he went to bed happy, he woke up happy and everything was happy in between.

TUCHMAN: But on September 11 Jonathan was on the 105th floor of One World Trade Center when it imploded. He was working as an international bond trader.

C. CAPPELLO: Everybody said we're supposedly at war or we're starting a war. I did not send my son to war. I sent him to work.

TUCHMAN: Jonathan was precocious as a child.

BOB CAPPELLO, VICTIM'S FATHER: Do you remember that -- how he used to be able to get out of his crib?

TUCHMAN: The youngest of three brothers who idolized his two older siblings, who doted on him. He wasn't sure what he wanted to do after college but three months ago received a job at Cantor Fitzgerald. He was thrilled with the job and in love with his girlfriend, Dana.

B. CAPPELLO: We've got to put that one up there, too.

TUCHMAN: For more than a week Claudia and Bob Cappello kept the faith that maybe their son was alive under the rubble. He's still missing. But his mother says she has now accepted Jonathan's fate after feeling her son's spirit visit her.

C. CAPPELLO: It was not wings floating around. He told me, he said, "Mom, it's enough. I'm here but I'm whole. I came with my body." And for that I was grateful. And that's when I knew it.

TUCHMAN: The day before his memorial service Jonathan's parents, brothers, other relatives and girlfriend, Dana, watched a video of him from his brother's wedding for the first time since the disaster.

JONATHAN CAPPELLO: My dizzy is short and sweet. I want to thank Rob for giving me a sister.

TUCHMAN: It was painful for them to watch, but it's something they felt the need to do.

Jonathan's father, who share's his son's birthday, can't stop thinking about his final time speaking with his boy.

B. CAPPELLO: As he said every day to me, "Thanks for the ride, Poppa. I'll see you tonight."

J. CAPPELLO: The last thing I said to him and the last thing that he said to me -- what we say to each other every day, every night for 23 years -- I go, "I love you, Johnny B." And he says, "I love you, Pumpkin. You're my woman." That's the last thing I said. It was 11:00 at night. That was it. That was it.

TUCHMAN: And this is how they spent Johnny's birthday.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TUCHMAN: The body of Johnny still has not been found. His parents told me this morning, they will not be here today. Being at the site of Ground Zero would be too difficult for them.

For those who do come, it begins at 2:00 Eastern Time. It will last about 90 minutes. Participants include tenor, Andrea Bocelli, composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, and the Reverend Franklin Graham. Kyra, back to you.

PHILLIPS: Wow. You've impacted us all this morning, Gary. Thank you so much.

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