President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence honored the lives lost in the 9/11 terror attacks with ceremonies Monday at the Pentagon and near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where hijacked planes crashed on what Trump called a “dark day.”
The president and first lady Melania Trump earlier Monday observed a moment of silence from the White House at 8:46 a.m., when the terrorists flew a plane into the north tower of the World Trade Center.
They then traveled to the Pentagon, where 184 people were killed when American Airlines Flight 77 struck the building.
“The horror and anguish of that dark day were seared into our national memory forever,” the president said of the nearly 3,000 people who perished in the coordinated attacks in Manhattan, Virginia and Pennsylvania. “It was the worst attack on our country since Pearl Harbor, and even worse because this was an attack on civilians.”
Trump, a New York City native, was in Manhattan when the Twin Towers fell 16 years ago.
“On that day, not only did the world change, but we all changed,” he said at the Pentagon memorial. “Our eyes were opened to the depths of the evil we face.”
“Today, our entire nation grieves with you,” Trump said.
“Though we can never erase your pain, or bring back those you lost, we can honor their sacrifice by pledging our resolve to do whatever we must to keep our people safe,” he said.
At another memorial near Shanksville, Pence recalled as heroes the United Airlines Flight 93 passengers and crew who fought terrorists to regain control of the plane and ensured it never reached its intended destination.
Forty were killed when the plane crashed instead into a field.
“Today, we pause as a nation not so much to remember tragedy, as to celebrate heroism and patriotism,” Pence said, calling the tragic site “a field of honor forever.”
While Trump did not recount his personal experience on Sept. 11, 2001, Pence — then a congressman — reflected on the scene of panic and chaos at the U.S. Capitol complex.
Both the president and vice president also included in their 9/11 remembrance remarks messages of solidarity for victims of Hurricanes Irma and Harvey, which battered Florida and Texas among other states.
Trump said: “When Americans are in need, Americans pull together — and we are one country.”