Almost 750 New Jersey residents died in Manhattan on Sept. 11, 2001.

Their names are etched into New Jersey’s official memorial - the Empty Sky Memorial - the site where families and mourners paid their respects on Thursday.

“Never forget,” said keynote speaker Michael Donatos. “Some things I will never be able to forget, no matter how much I try.”

On Thursday night at Liberty State Park, hundreds mourned those lost at the Twin Towers from New Jersey. Also represented, those from the Pentagon, and those on Flight 93.

“Never did any of us consider our location, the Pentagon fortress, to be at risk,” said keynote speaker Kevin Shaeffer. “In a flash, at 9:37 a.m.the entire command center exploded in an orange fireball, and I was slammed to the deck by a massive and thunderous shock wave.”

“My best friend Wanda Green was on Flight 93 that went down in Shanksville, Pennsylvania,” said Donita Judge, of Morris County.

Judge spoke with News 12 while looking for Green’s name, which gave her a new appreciation for the memorial.

“It dawned on me that often we come, and we look at the name of the person who we knew and loved, but there were so many other people,” Judge said. “This makes us not only look but to see the others.”

And there’s a push to add more - those who have perished from Sept. 11th-related illnesses.

“It is time,” Donatos said. “It is long past time to finish the job we started so many years ago.”

“It's a day that is so similar to 9/11,” Judge said. “The sky, the blueness, and it's just a very special time.”

“We should also never forget that burning desire our nation felt to come together,” said Shaeffer. “In our cities, in our communities, really as a family to help us all get through.”