It has been fourteen years since airplanes hijacked by Al Qaeda militants crashed into New York City’s World Trade Center and into the Pentagon in Washington, causing 2,977 deaths. To commemorate this date, relatives assembled in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington. Presidential candidates also took part to remember the victims.
At the World Trade Center, people got together to read the names of the 2,753 deaths and mark moments of silence at the specific times when the planes struck. The first one hit the north tower at 8:46 am and the second one hit the south at 9:03 am.
“It doesn’t get any easier,” said Malcolm Dean, a paramedic of the New York Fire Department who lost his younger brother William and colleagues. “Fourteen years later it’s not any easier standing here than it was the first year and the second year.”
In Pennsylvania, crowds met to give a moment of silence at 10:03 am, the exact same time when a passenger jetliner crashed near Shanksville. Forty passengers are remembered as heroes for they tried to take control of the airplane before the hijackers crashed it into an unknown target.
In Washington, a flag was unfurled to commemorate the 184 people who died at the Pentagon. There was a ceremony at the Pentagon Memorial with Defense Secretary Ash Carter. President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama gave a minute of silence at 8:46 am as well.
A pear tree, offspring of a tree at the World Trade Center plaza that survived the attacks, was also planted outside the Justice Department headquarters in Washington. Attorney General Loretta Lynch assisted to the event and said the tree is a reminder that “we can endure, we can prevail, and we, too, can bloom again.”
The presidential candidates also commemorated 9/11. The Republican candidate, Jeb Bush, participated in a ceremony in Londonderry, New Jersey and read the names of some victims of the attack.
Governor Scott Walker also honored the victims in a statement made on Friday. “Today and every day, our hearts are filled with the strength and spirit of a nation that rose out of the rubble united, unintimidated, and undeterred from celebrating our uniquely American values of freedom, liberty, and opportunity for all,” he said.
Other candidates remembered the sad day through social media, like Donald Trump, who tweeted: “Let’s all take a moment to remember all of the heroes from a very tragic day that we cannot let happen again!”
Source: Fox 13 Now and MSNBC