On 9/11, terrorists hijacked four planes and were able to crash two of them into the World Trade Center’s twin towers in NY and one into the Pentagon.
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Among those who died were 343 firefighters, 23 police officers and 37 officers with the Port Authority of NY and New Jersey.
Tom Acquaviva, who lost his son, Paul Acquaviva, said, “It doesn’t get easier”.
“As Americans, we do not give in to fear”, the president said.
Meanwhile, hundreds of people gathered for a name-reading observance at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where one of the hijacked planes crashed 15 years ago.
With solemn ceremonies and prayers, moments of silence and the ringing of bells, the nation on Sunday planned to mark the 15th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks that claimed the lives of 2,977 victims and forever changed how the United States views itself and its place in the world.
During the ceremony there were six minutes of silence: four of them took place at the exact time when four planes hijacked by al-Qaeda terrorists crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field. Neither candidate was expected to make public remarks at a ceremony where politicians have been allowed to attend, but not speak, since 2011.
“Today is meant to be an uplifting day, a sign of our determination to move forward”, – US Secretary of Homeland Security, Jeh Johnson. The names of every person who died in the 2001 and 1993 attacks are inscribed into bronze panels edging the Memorial pools.
“This weekend, we honour their memory once more”. A spokesperson later said she is, “feeling much better”.
In his weekly radio and internet address Saturday, Obama lauded the bravery of survivors, of emergency personnel who rushed to help victims and all others who have worked on keeping the country safe since the attacks.
“We’ve always heard stories of my father so this is another way to feel closer to him”, she said.
As the awful events of that day played out – the Pentagon being hit, the towers collapsing, Flight 93 crashing into a field in rural Pennsylvania – our nation was stunned.
“We remember, and we will never forget, the almost 3,000 lives taken from us so cruelly, including 184 men, women and children here – the youngest just three years old”.
For most Americans, the world changed 15 years ago today.
Commemorations are planned in NY and outside Washington, where hijackers piloted planes into the World Trade Center and Pentagon, and a rural field in Pennsylvania, where Flight 93 crashed after passengers fought back against their hijackers.
The United Airlines flight was heading from Newark, New Jersey to San Francisco when it crashed after passengers and crew members fought the terrorists for control of the plane.
The World Trade Center site has been totally rebuilt, home to the National September 11 Memorial and Museum, the world’s most expensive train station, a performing arts center and offices.
Clinton said in a statement that the horror of September 11, 2001 would never be forgotten, and paid tribute to the victims and first responders.
Outside once again, Hughes of the 9/11 foundation, said it was upsetting to see hot-dog vendors and souvenir stands near the memorial.
“We know that our diversity, our patchwork heritage, is not a weakness”. All of us alive on the morning of the September 11th attacks saw it happen, whether from a rooftop in Brooklyn, a street in lower Manhattan, or a television screen in Texas.
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The federal government was one of the first tenants in the original World Trade Center in the 1970s, said Port Authority of NY and New Jersey Executive Director Patrick Foye.
