The United States paused for a moment of reflection and remembrance on Wednesday, the 23rd anniversary of the horrific al-Qaida terrorist attacks on the country that killed nearly 3,000 people.
Relatives of those killed as hijacked airliners were crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York gathered at the Ground Zero memorial on a clear September morning not unlike that on September 11, 2001.
President Joe Biden, accompanied by Vice President Kamala Harris, watched the ceremony, as did former President Donald Trump, with former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg standing between the political adversaries.
Less than 12 hours after Harris and Trump concluded their contentious presidential debate in Philadelphia, the two candidates opposing each other in the November 5 election shook hands and seemingly exchanged quick pleasantries.
Biden and Harris later visited the rural community of Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where another al-Qaida-hijacked plane, which was believed en route to Washington, crashed after passengers commandeered the cockpit from the hijackers.
Then, Biden and Harris are headed to the Pentagon, just outside Washington, where a fourth hijacked aircraft was crashed into one wall of the five-sided headquarters of the Defense Department.
In a statement, Biden commemorated the lost lives of 2,977 people.
“On this day 23 years ago, terrorists believed they could break our will and bring us to our knees,” Biden said. “They were wrong. They will always be wrong. In the darkest of hours, we found light. And in the face of fear, we came together — to defend our country and to help one another. That is why terrorists targeted us in the first place: our freedom, our democracy, our unity.
“They failed. But we must remain vigilant,” the president said. “Today, our longest war is finally over. But our commitment to preventing another attack on our people never will be.
In New York, a police bagpipe honor corps carried an American flag to the plaza where the skyscrapers once stood. A collection of top U.S. officials watched as a bell was tolled twice, once at 8:46 a.m. and again at 9:03 a.m., when Flight 11 and then Flight 175, respectively, crashed into the towers.
As is tradition every year at the 9/11 commemoration, the names of all the victims were solemnly read, with many of the relatives of those killed holding pictures aloft of their loved ones.
Cathy Naughton came to honor her cousin, Michael Roberts, one of hundreds of firefighters killed in the attack. Twenty-three years later, she said, "It's just so raw. We want to make sure people remember always and say the names always and never forget."
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