Two beams of light illuminated the night sky in Lower Manhattan as a visual memorial to those who lost their lives on that day in 2001.
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Almost 3,000 people died when hijacked planes slammed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field near Shanksville on September 11, 2001. It was the deadliest terror attack on American soil. A service also was held at the Flight 93 National Memorial. Striking ray of light beams off WTC days before 9/11 anniversaryThe beams from the 88 searchlights represent the twin towers.
A girl, about 6 years old, in a blue-and-white striped dress, held a single yellow chrysanthemum and followed her family through the memorial garden to place the flower on one of the 184 curved benches, a narrow channel of rippling water reflecting light below them, spaced between crape myrtle trees.
They were set to stay lit until dawn.
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.
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.
“Sometimes the bad things in our lives put us on the path to where we should be going – to help others as many have helped me”, he said.
“During the ceremony, she felt overheated so departed to go to her daughter’s apartment, and is feeling much better”, said Clinton spokesman Nick Merrill.
“Your steadfast love and faithfulness has been an inspiration to me and our entire country”.
NY led the way with a memorial service at the Ground Zero site in Manhattan where the Twin Towers fell, which now houses a museum to the tragedy.
Then began the lengthy process of reading out the names of the victims.
At a Pentagon ceremony, President Barack Obama praised military members and others who have helped the USA fight terrorism, urged Americans not to let their enemies divide them and called the countrys diversity one of its greatest strengths. They’re not expected to make public remarks at the event, and both have promised to suspend campaign activities to mark the 15th anniversary of the attacks.
The emotional service – in the shadow of the newly built Freedom Tower – observed six moments of silence to honor the four attacks and the moments each of the Twin Towers collapsed.
The Tribute in Light, viewed from the Brooklyn borough of NY, rises above the lower Manhattan skyline, Sunday, Sept. 11, 2016, in NY, the fifteenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 on the United States.
Trump – a NY real estate mogul – has said he donated construction equipment to the recovery effort and gave $100,000 to the memorial after touring it for the first time earlier this year.
The 9/11 attacks killed 2,983 people and caused about $10 billion worth of property and infrastructure damage.
A couple kisses while visiting the Pentagon Memorial prior to a Sept. 11 observance ceremony at the Pentagon, Sunday, Sept. 11, 2016.
Organizers included some additional music and readings Sunday to mark the milestone year.
But they are keeping traditions that have made the ceremony a constant in how America remembers September 11, even as ground zero and the nation changes.
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Each year, family members spend hours reading out the names of all the dead at the memorial, an increasing number of them young adults who never or barely knew lost parents, uncles, aunts and grandparents.
