When Matt Bocchi was eight years old, he pressed his nose to the glass windows of Cantor Fitzgerald’s 105th-floor offices and stared out over the Manhattan skyline.
He was 1,000 feet up in the World Trade Center at his father John’s work Christmas party with his younger brother Nick and felt the building begin to sway in the wind.
Nine months later, his father was standing in the same office in the North Tower when one of the planes hit – and he didn’t make it.
Twenty-two years later, he and the families of the 2,977 victims of the terrorist hijackers mourn this anniversary.
The world remembers where they were when they saw the images of the jets and the towering infernos in Lower Manhattan.
However, Joe Biden celebrated the anniversary in Alaska on his way back from Vietnam, where he held a lengthy press conference and concluded by saying he was “going to bed.”
The break with tradition has sparked angry reactions from family members who called it a “betrayal” and a “slap in the face.”
Matt Bocchi (right) as a child with his father John, who died on September 11. He has criticized Biden’s decision not to attend a ceremony at one of the three crash sites
Biden is the first president not to be present at one of the three 9/11 crash sites to mark the anniversary.
Instead, the White House sent Vice President Kamala Harris to New York for this year’s Ground Zero ceremony. Ron DeSantis – who was invited by the families – was also present.
Bocchi and Brett Eagleson, another American who lost his father on September 11, have criticized Biden’s decision to skip the ceremony.
Their anger is compounded by Biden meeting Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the G20 in India last week – while all files linking the kingdom to the attack remain classified.
Images of the two men shaking hands raised questions about Biden’s motives, Bocchi told Dailymail.com.
Since calling the crown prince a “pariah,” Biden has backtracked, prompting Bocchi to wonder whether the president supports the “entirety” of the September 11 families.
The families have also questioned why five of the alleged September 11 conspirators held at Guantanamo Bay were offered plea deals to spare them the death penalty.
Last week, the president rejected parts of the deal, but the prospect of a plea deal has angered families seeking justice.
For Bocchi, Biden’s decision to be in Alaska is a sign that the government they have been pressuring for two decades will let the attacks slip from memory.
Bocchi’s father John was in the North Tower when one of the planes hit. He helped his colleagues get to safety, but he could not get away in time
He told DailyMail.com: ‘It seems like it’s just another betrayal.’
Bocchi questions why Biden offered the Guantanamo detainees a plea deal in the first place and wonders why there is even a consideration for them to avoid the death penalty.
‘It’s just a huge slap in the face. I think this is probably one of the least patriotic moves a president could ever make.
“I would say he doesn’t want to come to any of the September 11 sites because he’s scared.
“He’s afraid of what the 9/11 families will think or what he will say. It’s another step to avoid the situation. He says their legacies should live on.
For 22 years, the September 11 families have been pressing every White House for answers.
They have called for the release of any evidence of Saudi Arabia’s involvement – and asked for help in obtaining compensation.
Payouts to survivors and support to victims’ relatives have been held up by endless legal battles.
The relatives have also had to deal with their continued grief, and every year they are reminded of how that horrific day unfolded.
Bocchi was taken from his fourth-grade classroom at Harding Township Elementary in New Jersey.
He went home and waited for a call from his father, which never came.
He later watched his father’s final moments in a stairwell and spent hours obsessing over videos of people jumping from the towers as flames rose and reading blogs about September 11.
He battled drug and alcohol abuse but has now been sober for eight years tells his story of resilience for high school students across the country.
He also wrote To wavethe first memoir by a child of one of the victims of the attack.
‘I now live my life much more positively. I no longer think of 9/11 in such a negative light.”
He will never forget his father and took comfort in the fact that the country came together again in the aftermath.
The effort to find the terrorists responsible united the nation.
Bocchi says the US is more divided than he remembers, and he fears September 11 will slip from the public conscience.
“Unfortunately, the reality is that people will slowly forget.”
For him, Americans will eventually only talk about the horrors of the day of the attack and September 11 will “become a noun.”
The devastating consequences and impact on society will become a distant memory.
He says Biden is crucial to ensuring the day’s significance endures, and that celebrating the anniversary in Alaska is a “slap in the face.”
“(Americans) will think about it tomorrow morning.
“We need a leader who makes it important that the people murdered on American soil are not forgotten,” he said.
Bocchi says Donald Trump’s involvement in the Saudi-backed LIV golf tournament continues to frustrate him.
What angered him most was when he held a tournament at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, near where so many of the September 11 victims lived and where the families still live.
Eagleson has been a fierce advocate for the families of September 11 since losing his father in the South Tower. He was only 15 years old when he heard the news.
Brett Eagleson speaking in Washington in 2021/. He also lost his father in the Twin Towers
Eagleson has been a fierce advocate for the families of September 11 since losing his father in the South Tower. He was 15 years old
He has rejected the possible plea deal for the suspected co-conspirators and pressured the federal government to release all Saudi files.
And the decision that Biden will be at the “farthest geographic point” away from any of the crash sites is “egregious,” he says.
‘He chooses to plan a trip to Vietnam instead of returning to one of the three crash sites a little earlier.
“It’s the first time in 22 years, and it’s the highest level of disrespect we’ve ever received from a sitting president.”
He also accused the president of “ignoring” the families and saying staying away “doesn’t send the best message.”
“He wanted to hear about our battle with the federal government and how government after government has failed us.
“I have no hope that the government will even hear us on this issue,” he told DailyMail.com, referring to the plea deals and the Saudi documents.
Eagleson has found a staunch advocate in Republican presidential candidate DeSantis and his wife Casey.
Florida’s first couple invited them to the governor’s mansion on Memorial Day to hear their stories and learn about their fight for the truth.
Casey DeSantis hosts 9/11 victims for Memorial Day barbecue
Ron DeSantis welcomes families of 9/11 victims for a Memorial Day barbecue
“He wanted to hear about our fight for transparency and the truth, and he wanted to hear about the role the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia played in killing our loved ones.
The families spoke with him for more than an hour, and Eagleson says DeSantis listened to them all
“I think he understood our pain. He understood our suffering. It was a very positive meeting.
“The governor seemed very willing to help us in any capacity, not only as a presidential candidate, but also as governor of Florida.”
Eagelson has vowed to keep fighting for answers that can provide some form of closure for thousands.
But the events that turned a sunny September morning into darkness and the carnage that unfolded will be ingrained in history.