Twenty years after hijacked planes crashed into New York’s World Trade Center and the Pentagon outside Washington, D. C. , Americans have come together to honor the nearly 3,000 lives lost on September 11, 2001.
Saturday’s rite at the Sept. 11 memorial in New York City began with a minute of silence at 8:46 a. m. (12:46 GMT), the precise time when the first of the two planes collided with the dual towers of the World Trade Center.
Relatives then began reading aloud the names of 2,977 victims, an annual ritual that lasts 4 hours.
“We love them and miss them,” many said as dark violin music was played at the official ceremony, which was attended by dignitaries including President Joe Biden and former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton.
Mourners took photos of those they enjoyed, while music icon Bruce Springsteen sang his song I’ll See You in My Dreams. After dark, two soft rays will be projected into the New York sky.
“As we move forward with those 20 years, I find an ongoing appreciation for everyone who has become more than just people,” said Mike Low, whose daughter was a flight attendant on the first plane.
Commemorations have become an annual tradition, but Saturday takes on special significance, 20 years after the morning that marked a turning point in American history.
In a painful reminder of those changes, just weeks ago, the United States and allied forces ended a chaotic withdrawal from the war the U. S. unleashed in Afghanistan shortly after retaliatory strikes, which have become America’s longest war. history.
U. S. forces toppled the Taliban, who had ruled Afghanistan since 1996, because the organization had provided a haven for al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, who carried out the Sept. 11 attacks. Bin Laden was persecuted and killed in Pakistan a decade later.
The Taliban, however, are now back in force in Afghanistan, while at Guantanamo Bay, September 11 accused mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and 4 other men are still awaiting trial, nine years after the fees were set.
At Ground Zero, 2,753 people, from all over the world, died in the first explosions, jumped to their deaths or disappeared into the hell of the collapsed towers.
At the Pentagon, a passenger plane made a hole in the chimney in the appearance of the nerve center of the superpower army, killing another 184 people on the plane and on the ground.
And in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, the third wave of hijackers crashed into a box after passengers retaliated, sending the United 93 back before achieving its goal, likely building the U. S. Capitol. USA In Washington.
The memorials come as national discord overshadows any sense of closure amid anger over Kabul’s disorderly evacuation, which included thirteen U. S. infantrymen killed by a suicide bomber and pierced the broader consciousness of failure and defeat.
Biden visited Flight 93 National Monument in Shanksville on Saturday, the time of his Sept. 3, Sept. 11, layovers.
He laid a wreath in the Commemorative Square, which houses the wall of names, where the names of the passengers and equipment of this flight are inscribed in marble. The president and the first girl, Jill Biden, then walked with the relatives of the injured in the grassy box. when the plane stopped here.
“The core of who we are is not divided,” Biden said Saturday on a layover at a fireplace station after the Shanksville ceremony. He then stopped at the Pentagon on his last prevent of the day.
The Bidens, Vice President Kamala Harris and Gentleman Doug Elmhoff played a commemorative wreath at the site where a series of benches were erected representing the 184 victims. They put their hands on their hearts, biden raising his as a greeting, while “Touches” played.
In a video posted on the eve of the anniversary, Biden suggested Americans show unity, “our greatest strength. “
“For me, this is the central lesson of September 11. It’s that in our ultimate vulnerability, in the drive and charm of everything that makes us human, in the war for america’s soul, unity is our greatest strength,” Biden said in a six-minute message from the White House.
While many major occasions will take place in and around New York City, others across the country have planned occasions for those who died and to teach the public, adding New York City outdoor fire stations reminiscent of the 343 firefighters who lost their lives.
At the Pentagon, headquarters of the U. S. Department of Defense. In the U. S. , a U. S. flag was unfurled. USA On the west side where a plane hit construction at 9:37 a. m. EDT sharp (1:37 p. m. GMT) on September 11, 2001.
Later, the branch will perform a personal rite to honor the other 184 people killed there.
In Shanksville, southwestern Pennsylvania, a circle of family and visitors will gather at the National Monument to honor the other 40 people who died when United Airlines Flight 93 crashed into a farm field.
In Houston, other people will gather Saturday for the “Race of the Heroes of September 11. “At a U. S. Navy educational center. USA Outdoors in Chicago, 2,977 flags were placed in a box to honor each of those killed in the attacks 20 years ago. .
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