People Gather after 1am at World Trade Centre Site to celebrate the death of Osama Bin laden

    People gather after 1am at the World Trade Center site to celebrate the death of Osama Bin Laden

People gather after 1am at the World Trade Center site to celebrate the death of Osama Bin Laden

Across New York, cheers rose and tears fell in the thousands of homes where dining tables still have empty places and altars to the 9/11 dead still flicker.

"I am thrilled. I am just really overwhelmed," said Barbara Salvadore, 52, who lost her brother, Fire Lt. Peter Freund.

"It was a long time coming," she said, tears thick in her voice.

She said she saw the news on TV and then her phone began filling with messages and calls from loved ones as far away as California.

"I am just grateful to all the servicemen who made this possible," she said. "I am proud to be an American."

Monica Fletcher, 80, whose son, Andre, 37, was a firefighter with Rescue 5 on Staten Island, said she thanked God.

"The man who killed my son is dead," she said.

She had hoped to see this day ever since the day he died, she said.

Alice Hoagland, 61, of Los Gatos, Calif., whose son Mark Bingham, 31, was killed on Flight 93, was so excited she could barely speak.