At 8:46 a.m., hundreds
who gathered at the site of the fallen World Trade Center towers paused
in silence to mark the moment when American Airlines Flight 11 crashed
into the north tower -- the opening salvo of a terrorist attack that
brought down the iconic buildings, killed 2,977 people and launched more
than a decade of war.
Bagpipers broke the
silence, and family members of victims of the 1993 bombing of the World
Trade Center and the 2001 attack began a solemn reading of the names of
those killed at the site.
The 9/11 attack killed 2,753 people in New York, including 403 police and firefighters. The 1993 bombing killed six people.
In Washington, President
Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and their wives also paused in
silence outside the White House to commemorate the 9/11 victims. The
Justice Department also held a moment of silence.
Another moment of silence
was planned in New York for 9:03 a.m., when the second jetliner, United
Airlines Flight 175, crashed into the World Trade Center's south tower.
And at the Pentagon,
where American Airlines Flight 77 crashed at 9:37 a.m. on September 11,
Obama laid a wreath and then spoke at a private observance for family
members of the 184 people who died there.
"Our hearts still ache for the futures snatched away," he said.
In southwestern
Pennsylvania, it is only expected to take 18 minutes to lay a wreath and
read the names of the 40 people who died there, beginning at 9:45 a.m.
and ending at 10:03 a.m.
The latter is the time
United Airlines Flight 93 crashed into a field near Shanksville. The
target of those hijackers is unknown, but the hijackers apparently
crashed the plane short of the target because they feared losing control
of the plane to some of the 40 passengers and crew who were attacking
them.
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