America is marking the 24th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 radical Islamic terror attacks Thursday with solemn ceremonies across the nation as President Donald Trump and other officials honored the nearly 3,000 victims killed in the deadliest foreign attack on American soil.
President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump recently attended the annual flag ceremony at the Pentagon in Virginia, where 184 service members and civilians were killed when terrorists crashed American Airlines Flight 77 into the building.
Trump will deliver remarks at the Pentagon ceremony before traveling to New York City to attend the Yankees-Tigers baseball game at Yankee Stadium Thursday evening, marking his first Major League Baseball game of his second presidency.
Vice President JD Vance was originally scheduled to attend the ceremony at Ground Zero in New York City with Second Lady Usha Vance, but changed plans to travel to Utah following the shocking assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University Wednesday.
At Ground Zero in lower Manhattan, families of victims gathered for the annual reading of names ceremony, which began at 8:30 a.m. followed by a citywide moment of silence at 8:46 a.m., marking the exact time hijacked American Airlines Flight 11 struck the north tower of the World Trade Center.
The reading of victims’ names will continue until approximately 1 p.m., with moments of silence marking each phase of the attacks: 9:03 a.m. when United Airlines Flight 175 struck the south tower, 9:37 a.m. when Flight 77 hit the Pentagon, 9:59 a.m. when the south tower collapsed, and 10:03 a.m. when United Airlines Flight 93 crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins attended the Flight 93 Memorial ceremony in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, honoring the 40 passengers and crew members who died fighting the Islamic terrorists and preventing the plane from reaching its intended target.
“On the 24th anniversary of 9/11, we honor the lives lost, the heroes who emerged, and the resilience of the American spirit,” the White House posted on social media.
The ceremonies took place amid heightened security concerns following Kirk’s death, which authorities said has prompted additional security measures around the anniversary events.
The Trump administration has been exploring whether the federal government should take control of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in New York City. The memorial is currently run by a public charity chaired by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Democrats, including New York Governor Kathy Hochul, have accused Trump of meddling with the sacred site. However, some victim families have welcomed the idea, saying the museum has been slow to move the remains of 1,100 unidentified victims from its basement and should include names of those since identified as 9/11 victims by the city’s medical examiner.
The Tribute in Light memorial beams were scheduled to shine Thursday evening from lower Manhattan, visible up to 60 miles away as twin columns of light representing the absence of the World Trade Center towers.
Nearly 7,000 American service members have died in the wars that followed the 9/11 attacks as the United States pursued the fight against radical Islamic terrorism in Afghanistan, Iraq and other locations around the world.
The attacks killed 2,977 people across all three locations, with more than 2,700 dying at the World Trade Center, 184 at the Pentagon, and 40 aboard Flight 93. The coordinated assault by al-Qaeda terrorists changed American security policies and launched the global war on terrorism.
Houses of worship across New York City tolled their bells during the moment of silence as Americans remembered those lost in the worst terrorist attack in the nation’s history.