Flight 587: Families Keep Memories Alive After 10 Years

Hundreds of people show up every year on an often-dreary November morning in Queens to ensure that the memories of their lost parents, siblings, spouses and friends live on.

Saturday was the 10^th anniversary of the memorial for the victims of American Airlines Flight 587 in the New York borough's Rockaway Park neighborhood, and attendance was high despite the fact that the plane crashed into the nearby neighborhood of Belle Harbor a full decade ago.

Cathy Poza, of Flatbush, Brooklyn, told CBS New York that she was there to keep her cousin's name alive.

Just to pay my respects, just to show that they are remembered and they are loved, Poza said. Not just my cousin but everybody that was lost on that day.

Coming on Nov. 12, 2001, just two months after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the crash of Flight 587 left residents of the Rockaway Peninsula reeling again at the tremendous loss of life.

A full 265 people were killed when the jet - which was headed for the Dominican Republic -- went down at 9:16 a.m., shortly after it took off from John F. Kennedy Airport as a result of pilot error.

As happens each year, Mayor Michael Bloomberg spoke, as did religious leaders and community members, and then each victim's name was slowly, heartbreakingly read aloud in the shadow of the sculpture dedicated five years ago to the victims as waves crashed onto the sandy beach just beyond.

Ten years have gone by, but as you know all too well, every day in the wake of tragedy is a day of remembrance, a time to honor, an occasion for finding strength, Bloomberg told the crowd. But every day, we also know that the presence of those we have loved and lost is always with us.

And family members placed roses in the memorial in an annual tradition to remember those who were taken from them that tragic November morning.