Today, Americans will commemorate the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in the United States, remembering the shock, the dead and the sweeping consequences of al-Qaeda assault on symbols of their country’s might and prosperity.
On September 11, 2001, no fewer than 2,977 people were killed in the deadliest terrorist attacks in American history.
The moment shocked the nation. Two planes, hijacked by Islamic jihadists vowing death to all Americans, plowed into both towers at the World Trade Center in New York. Another plane was flown into the Pentagon in Washington, DC.
A fourth plane, presumably headed for the White House or the U.S. Capitol, was heroically diverted by passengers and ended up crashing in an empty field in Pennsylvania.
After reports of the first plane hitting the North Tower, millions watched the second plane hit the South Tower on live television.
It was a terrifying, startling, and humbling event for the country. The 9/11 attacks were the deadliest on American soil since the shock attack at Pearl Harbor 60 years before, and the sense of outrage was reminiscent of that moment.
The attacks in New York occurred in the country’s busiest city on a busy workday. And the staggered nature of the attacks meant that news footage captured almost everything as it happened, ensuring that millions of Americans saw the events precisely as they unfolded.
Friday’s milestone anniversary will bring memorial rituals — wreath-laying, flag-flying, moments of silence, vigils and readings of victims’ names — and volunteer projects in tribute to a day that about half of U.S. adults remember as the most historic event of their lifetime, according to a new poll.
For others, it is an occasion for private reflection — or, in many schools, education — about the attack that unfolded in a single morning but left nearly 3,000 dead and a decades-long trail of aftermath, from personal grief to far-flung wars.
An event to honour the victims will be held in London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park at 11:00 BST
Memorial services will also take place at the three crash sites in New York, Virginia and Pennsylvania.
