Americans paused again Tuesday to mark the 11th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks with familiar ceremony, but also a sense that it’s time to move forward after a decade of remembrance.
As in past years, thousands were expected to gather at the World Trade Center site in New York, the Pentagon and Shanksville, Pa., to read the names of nearly 3,000 victims killed in the worst terror attack in U.S. history. President Obama was to attend the Pentagon memorial, and Vice President Joe Biden was to speak in Pennsylvania.
Thousands of people whose loved ones were killed at the World Trade Center made their annual pilgrimage to the tragic site that, for many, has turned comforting.
They stood silently for the familiar ritual, the only sound the rushing water falling down the side of the reflecting pools at the heart of the Sept. 11th Memorial.
An honor guard of NYPD, FDNY and Port Authority bagpipers played as the sun shone brilliantly overhead in a clear sky so reminiscent of the weather 11 years ago this date.
At the White House, President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama led the nation in a moment of silence at 8:46 a.m. to observe when American Airlines flight 11 struck the North Tower.
A wreath was laid at the Pentagon; and there was a moment of silence on the South Lawn of the White House.
People gathered at a memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania to honor the heroism of the passengers aboard United Airlines Flight 93, who foiled a plan by the hijackers of their plane to fly it into the United States Capitol, and instead crashed it in an empty field.
Chicago firehouses fell silent at exactly 7:46 this morning in observance of the 9/11 anniversary.
There are also special commemorations in the suburbs.
Naval commander Dan Shanower of Naperville died at his desk at the Pentagon when a hijacked plane crashed into the building.
Friends and family will gather today at a hometown memorial to Shanower and the other victims of 9/11..
Among the speakers will be Joe Ditmar, who was on the 105th floor of the World Trade Center’s south tower when the first plane hit the other tower. He got out in time.
0 Replies to “11th Anniversary of 9/11 terrorist attacks remembered…”