Sunday marks 21 years since 9/11, when terrorists carried out the deadliest acts of foreign terror on American soil in New York and at the Pentagon. Events around the nation pay tribute to the victims of 9/11. Nearly 3,000 Americans died in the attacks at the World Trade Center and at the Pentagon as well as in the crash of a hijacked plane in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
A ceremony Sunday at the site of the World Trade Center towers in New York City, which became known as Ground Zero in the wake of the attacks, will mark the occasion, as will memorial events in Shanksville and at the Pentagon in Virginia, outside Washington, D.C.
In New York, the ceremony at the National September 11th Memorial begins with a moment of silence to mark the time American Airlines Flight 11 struck the North Tower at 8:46 a.m. ET. The ceremony also includes moments of silence held at 9:03 a.m., to observe the time United Airlines Flight 175 struck the South Tower; at 9:37 a.m., when American Airlines Flight 77 struck the Pentagon; at 9:59 a.m., to mark the fall of the South Tower; at 10:30 a.m., to observe the time United Airlines Flight 93 crashed in Pennsylvania; and at 10:28 a.m., in observance of the fall of the North Tower. Vice President Harris and Doug Emhoff are in New York City and participating.
Families of the victims killed in the 2001 attacks and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing will read the names of each of the 2,983 victims of the 2001 attacks.
At the Pentagon, commemoration events include the unfurling of a flag, laying of a wreath and remarks by President Biden. First lady Jill Biden marks the occasion at the Flight 93 National Memorial Service in Shanksville, where the hijacked flight crashed into a field after passengers fought the hijackers. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland also offers remarks at the the ceremony, which honors the victims, their families, survivors and first responders.
