24th anniversary of Sept. 11 attacks remembered across America

On Thursday morning, Denise Matuza, Jennifer Nilsen and Michelle Pizzo boarded a bus from Staten Island for Lower Manhattan — each wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the names and faces of their husbands, who died in the attack.

“Even 24 years later, it’s heart wrenching,” said Nilsen, whose husband, Troy Nilsen, worked at Cantor Fitzgerald on the 103rd floor of the World Trade Center. “It feels the same way every year.”

Pizzo, whose husband, Jason DeFazio, also worked at Cantor Fitzgerald, hoped more people could just take one minute to reflect on the day.

“Younger kids don’t realize that you have to remember,” she said.

The anniversary ceremony in New York was taking place at the National Sept. 11 memorial and Museum, where two memorial pools ringed by waterfalls and parapets inscribed with the names of the dead mark the spots where the twin towers once stood.

Many in the ground zero crowd held up photos of lost loved ones as a moment of silence marked the exact time when the first hijacked plane struck the World Trade Center’s iconic twin towers.

Family members then read aloud the names of the victims, with many giving short remembrances, well wishes and even updates on their lives to their lost loved ones.

At the Pentagon in Virginia, the 184 service members and civilians killed when hijackers steered a jetliner into the headquarters of the U.S. military were honored in a ceremony attended by President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump.

The president, in his remarks, recounted moments from that day, including snippets of conversations from passengers who were aboard the hijacked airplanes.

“Today, as one nation, we renew our sacred vow that we will never forget Sept. 11, 2001,” Trump said during the observance, which took place in an internal courtyard of the building rather than its traditional location outside its walls near the building’s 9/11 memorial.

“The enemy will always fail,” he added. “We defy the fear, endure the flames.”

And in a rural field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, a similar ceremony marked by moments of silence, the reading of names and the laying of wreaths, honored the victims of Flight 93, the hijacked plane that crashed after crew members and passengers tried to storm the cockpit.

People across the country are also marking the 9/11 anniversary with service projects and charitable works as part of a national day of service. Volunteers will be taking part in food and clothing drives, park and neighborhood cleanups, blood banks and other community events.

In all, the attacks by al-Qaida militants killed 2,977 people, including many financial workers at the World Trade Center and firefighters and police officers who had rushed to the burning buildings trying to save lives.

The attacks reverberated globally and altered the course of U.S. policy, both domestically and overseas. It led to the “ Global War on Terrorism ” and the U.S.-led invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq and related conflicts that killed hundreds of thousands of troops and civilians.


(AP Photo Seth Wenig)