The commemoration began with a bell and a minute’s silence at ground zero, the former site of New York’s Twin Towers, which were destroyed after hijackers crashed into them on September 11, 2001. Relatives and officials of the victims also gathered at the Pentagon and at a field in Pennsylvania where other planes hijacked by al Qaeda terrorists went down. Nearly 3,000 people were killed in total. 9/11: How the terrorist attacks unfolded minute by minute Communities mark the day with candlelight vigils, interfaith services and other commemorations. Some joined volunteer programs on a date federally recognized as Patriots’ Day and the National Day of Service and Remembrance.
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President Joe Biden laid a wreath at the Pentagon, where he said: “We will never forget, we will never give up. Our commitment to prevent another attack on the United States is unending.” One of the masterminds of the 9/11 attacks, al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, was killed in a US airstrike in Afghanistan last month. First Lady Jill Biden spoke in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where one of the planes crashed after passengers and crew tried to storm the cockpit as the hijackers headed for Washington. Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband attended the National September 11 Memorial in New York, where relatives of the victims read aloud the names of the dead. Read more: Twenty years later, the US and the world face a painful reflection Some are forced to remember, others want to, but New York will never forget Image: Families attend a memorial service in Manhattan “Every 9/11 is a reminder of what I’ve lost” The celebrations follow a fraught anniversary last year, which came weeks after the chaotic and humiliating end of the war in Afghanistan launched by the US in response to the attacks. In addition to fueling the war on terror, the attack sparked a sense of national pride and unity for many, while subjecting Muslim Americans to years of suspicion and bigotry. The attacks have cast a long shadow over the personal lives of thousands of people who survived, responded or lost loved ones, friends and colleagues. More than 70 of Sekou Siby’s colleagues perished at Windows on the World, the restaurant atop the mall’s north tower. Mr. Sibi, an immigrant from Ivory Coast, was scheduled to work that morning until another cook asked him to change shifts. He never got a job in a restaurant again and has struggled with how to make sense of the horror he witnessed. “Every 9/11 is a reminder of what I lost and can never get back,” Mr. Sibi said. He is now president and CEO of the restaurant worker advocacy group ROC United, which grew out of a relief center for Windows on the World workers who lost their jobs when the twin towers fell.
