Bells Toll As The US Marks 22 Years Since 9/11, From Ground Zero To Alaska

NEW YORK – Americans remembered 9/11 with tolling bells, personal tributes, and tears on Monday, with commemorations stretching from ground zero to small communities.

People gathered at memorials, fire stations, city halls, campuses, and other locations to mark the 22nd anniversary of the deadliest terror assault on American soil.

“That day is still happening for those of us who lost loved ones on that day.” Everyone else has moved on. And you find a way to move ahead, but that day always comes for you,” Edward Edelman said as he arrived at Ground Zero to pay tribute to his dead brother-in-law, Daniel McGinley.

President Joe Biden was scheduled to speak at a military base in Anchorage, Alaska. His visit, on his way back to Washington from India and Vietnam, serves as a reminder that the impact of 9/11 was felt in every corner of the country, no matter how remote. In an attack that altered American foreign policy and home worries, hijacked planes flew into New York’s World Trade Centre, the Pentagon, and a Pennsylvania field, killing almost 3,000 people.

“We were one country, one nation, one people on that day, just as it should be.” “That was the feeling — that everyone came together and did what we could, where we were, to try to help,” said Eddie Ferguson, the fire chief in Goochland County, Virginia.

It’s almost 100 miles (160 kilometers) from the Pentagon and more than three times the distance from New York. However, a local memorial containing steel from the World Trade Center’s collapsed twin towers instilled a sense of connection.

Americans remembered 9/11 with tolling bells, personal tributes, and tears on Monday, with commemorations stretching from ground zero to small communities.

The mostly rural county of 25,000 people holds two annual ceremonies: one in the morning honoring first responders, and one in the evening honoring all victims.

Other communities across the country observe minutes of silence, toll bells, candlelight vigils, and other activities in remembrance. In Iowa, a 21-mile (34-kilometer) march from Waukee, a Des Moines suburb, to the state Capitol was scheduled to begin at 9:11 a.m. Monday. 911 dispatchers in Columbus, Indiana, broadcast a commemoration message to police, fire, and EMS radios throughout the 50,000-person city, which simultaneously holds a public memorial ceremony.

Boy and Girl Scouts raise and lower the flag at a 9/11 commemoration in Fenton, Missouri, where a ‘Heroes Memorial’ has a piece of World Trade Centre steel and a plaque honoring 9/11 victim Jessica Leigh Sachs. Some of her relatives live in the 4,000-person St. Louis suburb.

“We’re just a little bitty community,” Mayor Joe Maurath said, “but we need to remember these events.” Not just 9/11, but all the events that led to our liberation.”

Monmouth County, New Jersey, home to some 9/11 fatalities, declared September 11 a holiday this year so that county employees may attend commemorations.

Many Americans also volunteer on Patriot Day, which Congress has designated as both a Patriot Day and a National Day of Service and Remembrance.

Vice President Kamala Harris joined other dignitaries at Ground Zero for a ceremony on the National September 11 Memorial Plaza. The event does not include any political speeches, instead giving the podium to victims’ families for an hour-long reading of the names of the deceased.

Reading the names of those who have died “is the biggest honour of my life,” said Gabrielle Gabrielli, who lost her uncle and godfather, Richard Gabrielle.

“We must preserve the memory of everyone who died.” “This will be their legacy,” she explained. “This is where he will be laid to rest.” It’s holy.”

There are around 1,100 fatalities whose remains have yet to be recognized.

Americans remembered 9/11 with tolling bells, personal tributes, and tears on Monday, with commemorations stretching from ground zero to small communities.

Biden, a Democrat, will be the first president to observe September 11 in Alaska or elsewhere in the western United States. He and his predecessors have visited one or more attack sites in most years. However, Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Barack Obama have both honored the occasion on the White House lawn. Following one of those commemorations, Obama visited Fort Meade in Maryland to honor the military.

Jill Biden, the first lady, is scheduled to lay a wreath at the Pentagon’s 9/11 memorial, where workmen stretched a massive American flag over the side of the structure Monday morning.

Doug Emhoff, Harris’ husband, is due to attend a ceremony at the Flight 93 National Memorial at Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where one of the hijacked planes crashed after passengers attempted to assault the cockpit.

The National Park Service will manage the memorial site, including a new educational video, virtual tour, and other items for teachers to utilize in the classroom. Educators with more than 10,000 pupils have registered for the free “National Day of Learning” program, which organizers claim will be available through the autumn.

“We need to get the word out to the next generation,” said National Park Service ranger and monument spokesperson Katherine Hostetler.

SOURCE – (AP)