21 years later, attacks seem like ‘just yesterday’
Biden leads chorus of voices vowing never to forget day
NEW YORK — Americans remembered 9/11 on Sunday with tear-choked tributes and pleas to “never forget,” 21 years after the deadliest terror attack on U.S. soil.
The loss still feels immediate to Bonita Mentis, who wore a necklace with a photo of her slain sister, Shevonne Mentis.
“It’s been 21 years, but it’s not 21 years for us. It seems like just yesterday,” she said before reading victims’ names at the World Trade Center to a crowd that included Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff.
At the Pentagon, which also was targeted on 9/11, President Joe Biden vowed that the U.S. would continue working to root out terrorist plots and called on Americans to stand up for “the very democracy that guarantees the right to freedom that those terrorists on 9/11 sought to bury in the burning fire, smoke and ash.”
Biden noted that even after the United
States left Afghanistan that his administration continues to pursue those responsible for the 9/11 attacks.
Last month, Biden announced the U.S. had killed Ayman al-Zawahri, the Al-Qaida leader who helped plot the Sept. 11 attacks, in a clandestine operation.
“We will never forget, we will never give up,” Biden said. “Our commitment to preventing another attack on the United States is without end.”
The president was joined by family members of the fallen, first responders who