NEW YORK (AP) - Seventeen service members from the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard participated in a re-enlistment and promotion ceremony Friday at the National September 11 Memorial Museum in Manhattan.
Rear Admiral Scott A. Stearney, commander of Carrier Strike Group Four, presided over the ceremony in front of one of the reflecting pools where the twin towers once stood.
Navy Lt. Christopher Mikell’s 2-year-old daughter Addyson attached her dad’s new lieutenant bars to his dress white uniform. Mikell said his promotion ceremony at the memorial was moving.
Coast Guard Petty Officer 2nd Class Alejandro Diaz said he was happy to re-enlist.
“I love my job,” Diaz said. “I love it every day, what I do.”
The service members were in town as part of Fleet Week New York, a weeklong celebration of military services by sea when active ships dock in the city.
The celebration had been canceled last year because of federal budget cuts.
President Barack Obama marked the opening of the Sept. 11 museum at the World Trade Center site May 15. The museum officially opened to the public Wednesday. The memorial was opened in 2011.
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