‘It’s so hard.. whether it’s the first year or the 20th’
AMERICA united in grief as it marked 20 years since the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Memorials were held yesterday across the US, and in New York, thousands gathered.
America fell silent five times to mark the horrific actions that changed the world for ever.
The first came at 8.46am when the first jet hit the World Trade Center.
Further silences fell when the second hit the South Tower, a third struck the Pentagon, a fourth crashed into a field in Pennsylvania and when the towers collapsed.
In between the silences at Ground Zero, relatives of victims read out the names of those killed. President Joe Biden was joined by former US Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.
He then travelled to both Pennsylvania and Virginia to pay his respects at all three sites.
Mr Biden said: “It’s so hard – whether it’s the first year or the 20th, children have grown up without parents.” Bruce Springsteen, inset, sang his song I’ll See You In My Dreams to the Ground Zero crowds.
And in the UK, a string of memorials were held to commemorate the dead and the 67 British citizens who were killed.
The Queen sent a message to the President saying her thoughts and prayers were with the victims, survivors and their families, while Boris Johnson spoke to crowds at an event at London’s Olympic Park.
He said: “While the terrorists imposed their burden of grief, we can now say with the perspective of 20 years that they failed to shake our belief in freedom and democracy.”
Janice Brooks, 61, from Norfolk, escaped from the 84th floor of the Twin Towers and said: “I hope you can take time to think about everyone who died.”
In total, 2,977 people were killed on September 11, 2001, when alQaeda militants hijacked four planes and crashed them.