They walked into St. Patrick's Cathedral wearing union T-shirts, paint-splattered jeans and work boots covered with the dust of Ground Zero.

Thousands of carpenters, operating engineers, plumbers and other construction industry workers came to honor the 59 lost members of the building trades. Many of them stood three or four abreast aside the overflowing pews, taking their first break from the grueling work at the World Trade Center disaster site.

Working across the street from the World Trade Center, carpenter Bob Martin saw the second plane fly overhead before it crashed into the south tower. Now working near Ground Zero, securing broken windows at damaged buildings, he said he came to pay his respects to his lost co-workers.

"The sight of it [Ground Zero] is just too horrible for words," said Martin, a member of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners Local 608, who now works 11-hour shifts, seven days per week. "It motivates us to clean it up and get the city back."

After a tour of the site and a briefing by the construction companies responsible for cleanup, several international building trades union presidents joined construction workers and priests alike in mourning their members. Leading the processional through the cathedral, union representatives carried union banners in front of bagpipes and drummers from the carpenters and electricians unions to open the service.

"Thank you for all you are doing in our time of greatest crisis," said John Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO, the national federation of labor unions. "Never has it been more clear that working men and women are our greatest strength and biggest asset."

Praising the work of those gathered at St. Patrick's, Msgr. Charles Kavanaugh, the pastor at St. Raymond Catholic Church in the Bronx, advised the workers to treat life as a gift from God. Kavanaugh delivered the homily because Cardinal Edward Egan had been called to Rome by Pope John Paul II to speak with bishops from around the world.

"We can see life as a rip-off or life as a gift ... to be cherished with the ones we love," Kavanaugh said. "We have to believe it is all a gift. Only God gives us life."

Ed Malloy, president of the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York, promised his members would rebuild the city. "In life they built this city, and it is in life that we will rebuild this city for them," Malloy said. "We will restore hope from despair, and rebuilding will make us whole."

MISSING WORKERS

Carpenters

District Council:

Sean Canavan

Martin Coughlan

Matthew Diaz

Paul Gill

Mauricio Gonzalez

Maurice Kelly

Chris Kirby

Benjamin Millman

Joseph Mistrulli

Brian Monaghan

David Ortiz

Joseph Piskadlo

John Rizzo

Daniel Rosetti

Steven Russell

David Ruddle

Erick Sanchez

Patrick Woods

International

Brotherhood

of Electrical Workers:

Jeff Shaw

Harvey Hermer

Lester Marino

Glen Travers

Joe Martinez

Steven Strauss

Joseph Dipilato

Robert Caufield

Tom Ashton

Joe Romagnolo

Ken White

Sal Fiumefreddo

Ralph Licciardi

Charles Lucania

James Cartier

Michael Lowe

Painters

International Union:

Julio Fernandez

Robert Campbell

Theodoros Pigis

Efrain Romero

Norbert Szurkowski

Tom Hughes

International Union

Of Operating Engineers:

William Krukowski

Vito DeLeo

Charles Magee

John Griffin

David Williams

Mason Tenders

District Council:

Kieran Gorman

Ricknauth Jaggernauth

Amarnauth Lachhman

Frank Mancini

Steamfitters

Local Union 638:

Thomas Kelly

Felix Calixte

Arturo Sereno

Ornamental

Iron Workers:

Kenneth Watson

John Collins

David Weiss

Iron Workers Local 40:

Peter Vega

Metallic Lathers Union

And Reinforcing

Ironworkers:

William Cashman

Sheet Metal Workers

Local 28:

Jean Andrucki

Local One

Elevator Constructors:

Charles Costello