Commemorations unfolded in NY and outside Washington, where hijackers piloted planes into the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon, and at a rural field in Pennsylvania, where a plane crashed after passengers famously fought back against their hijackers.
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The recitations of the almost 3,000 names of the dead rose toward a cloudy sky over lower Manhattan Sunday morning like an epic poem chronicling one of America’s saddest moments. “There is no New Yorker who somehow evaded the pain of that day”.
George W Bush, who was president at the time of the attacks, spent the morning at church in Dallas, Texas, his home state.
In Lower Manhattan, a recitation of the names of those killed in both 2001 and in an earlier terrorist attack in 1993 on the Twin Towers were read aloud at the 9/11 Memorial.
The New York ceremony started with a moment of silence at 8.46am, coinciding with the time the first plane struck the north tower of the World Trade Centre. Fewer people were alive that day – this year’s high school freshmen, for instance, weren’t alive when it happened.
“Parents of the deceased are getting older, younger people usually can’t make it because of work obligations”, Tom Acquaviva told USA Today. But he said he felt a sense of hope: “There are more people here today than there ever have been”.
He added that he thinks of his son daily but there was something about the anniversary of the attacks. “My wife and I lost everything”, Acquaviva said. But his remarks also carried a more pointedly political message, the Washington Post said.
Countless faithful will prayerfully gather in NY and across the United States to acknowledge the 15 years that have passed since the terrorist attacks that befell the country on September 11, 2001.
In the last 15 years, NY has sought to craft a balance between remembering the victims and the carnage, and doing what it does best: endless regenerating, rebuilding and looking toward the future.
The New York remembrance was a private event attended by families and local officials.
Presidential candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are expected to attend a ceremony at the rebuilt site.
President Barack Obama says the nation will never forget the lives of those killed in the September 11 attacks as the United States on Sunday commemorated the 15th anniversary of the attacks with a moment of silence observed in somber remembrance at Ground Zero in NY. “We stand with the survivors who still bear the scars of that day”, Obama said Saturday in his weekly address.
“Terrorism can not prevail if we refuse to be terrorized”, Johnson said.
“As Americans, we do not give in to fear”, the president said. “We can not react in ways that erode the fabric of our society”.
Some people who were there managed to take pictures as they ran to escape the collapsing buildings. According to several news reports, Islamist Terrorist Group Al-Qaeda was behind this September 11 attacks.
“It may be a photo-op for them but for us it is still very painful to watch”. “And we’ll keep doing everything in our power to protect our homeland”, he added.
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A visitor to the National September 11 Memorial arranges flowers on the north pool, Saturday, Sept. 10, 2016, in NY. The museum will open to the public on May 21. The entire trail is 1,300 miles long and connects all three 9/11 memorials. “Today, let’s honor the lives and tremendous spirit of the victims and responders”, tweeted Clinton, who was a USA senator from NY at the time of the attacks. Believe me, it wasn’t easy, because like most Americans we were angry, stunned and numb. “It will also contribute to the economic vitality of the area”.
