During the first moment of silence at 8:46 a.m., the time when American Airlines Flight 11 hit the north tower, houses of worship in NY have been asked to toll their bells. Thousands gathered here to listen as family members, after a moment of silence, began solemnly reading the names of the nearly 3,000 victims.
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Presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump temporarily paused their bitter election campaign to attend the service with police and relatives of the victims at the September 11 memorial. “Many people make their own t-shirts to remember the loved one from their family that died”.
“We just decided as a family since it was the 15th anniversary that we would all get together and make a bus trip to NY to celebrate her life”, Keaton said.
In his weekly radio address on Saturday, U.S. President Barack Obama said it had been one of the darkest days in the history of the nation, but that it underlined the core values and resilience that define Americans.
After going to her daughter’s nearby apartment, Clinton left shortly before noon and said, “I’m feeling great”. “Your steadfast love and faithfulness has been an inspiration to me and our entire country”.
As classical music drifted across the 9/11 Memorial plaza in lower Manhattan, family members and first responders slowly read the names and delivered personal memories of the nearly 3,000 victims killed in the worst attack on USA soil since the 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor.
In Pennsylvania, Gordon Felt lost a brother on United Airlines Flight 93, which flew out of Newark bound for San Francisco. “Patriotism and heroism” were on display that day, Felt said. “We can’t leave the events of September 11 behind”, Felt said. Hundreds of people also are expected at a ceremony at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville.
“The first shot in the war on terrorism was sacked by those who wrestled the control of the plane and brought it down and saved the Capitol”, Rooney said Sunday. “It’s so tragic. We want to remember, to repay and respect them”, Zender said.
Houses of worship throughout New York City will toll their bells and families of victims of the 2001 attacks – as well as the 1993 bombing at the World Trade Center – will read the names of the people killed.
A second pause will come at 9:03 a.m. (1303 GMT), when United Airlines Flight 175 struck the South Tower.
At the World Trade Center site on Friday, workers constructed the stage for Sunday’s ceremony as tourists crowded the memorial fountains built into the footprints of the two original towers.
The attacks killed 2,753 people in NY, 184 at the Pentagon and 40 on Flight 93 – which was headed toward the USA capital until passengers and crew staged a rebellion and the hijackers crashed it. He urged relatives of those who died in the terror attacks to switch off their TV sets, go outside and get involved in their community.
For the first time, the Shanksville ceremony is being held outside the visitor center that opened a year ago rather than at the granite mall that runs along the crash site.
As it has every year, the remembrance will mainly focus on the reading of the names of those killed in the attacks.
Acquaviva said that although he thinks of Paul daily, the anniversary of the attacks remains a special day.
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“I’ve got mixed emotions, but I’m still kind of numb”, said Johnson, now a police chief in Forest City, Pennsylvania. “You don’t move forward – it always stays with you”.
