18 years later, America vows to ‘never forget’ 9/11.

NEW YORK — People who were too young on 9/11 to even remember their lost loved ones, and others for whom the grief is still raw, paid tribute with wreathlayings and the solemn roll call of the dead Wednesday as America marked the 18th anniversary of the worst terror attack on U.S. soil.

“Eighteen years. We will not forget. We cannot forget,” Bud Salter, who lost his sister, Catherine, said at ground zero.

President Donald Trump laid a wreath at the Pentagon, telling victims’ relatives: “This is your anniversary of personal and permanent loss.”

“It’s the day that has replayed in your memory a thousand times over. The last kiss. The last phone call. The last time hearing those precious words, ‘I love you,’ ” the president said.

Later, former President George W. Bush, who was in office on 9/11, and thenDefense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld attended another wreathlaying at the Pentagon.

Near Shanksville, Pa., the third site where planes crashed on Sept. 11, 2001, Vice President Mike Pence credited the crew and passengers who fought back against the hijackers with protecting him and others in the U.S. Capitol that day.

“I will always believe that I and many others in our nation’s capital were able to go home that day and hug our families because of the courage and selflessness of your families,” said Pence, who was an Indiana congressman at the time. Officials concluded the attackers had been aiming the plane toward Washington.

Nearly 3,000 people were killed when terroristpiloted planes slammed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and the field in Pennsylvania.

After reading part of the long list of names, Parboti Parbhu choked up as she spoke from the ground zero podium about her slain sister, Hardai. Even after nearly two decades, “there’s no easy way to say goodbye,” she said.

By now, the heritage of grief has been handed down to a new generation, including children and young adults who knew their lost relatives barely or not at all.

Jacob Campbell was 10 months old when his mother, Jill MaurerCampbell, died on 9/11.

“It’s interesting growing up in a generation that doesn’t really remember it. I feel a connection that no one I go to school with can really understand,” Campbell, a University of Michigan sophomore, said as he attended the ceremony.

Like the families, the nation is still grappling with the aftermath of Sept. 11. The effects are visible from airport security checkpoints to Afghanistan, where the post9/11 U.S. invasion has become America’s longest war. The aim was to dislodge Afghanistan’s thenruling Taliban for harboring alQaida leader and Sept. 11 mastermind Osama bin Laden.

J. David Ake / Associated Press A U.S. flag hanging from a steel girder, damaged in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center, blows in the breeze at a memorial in Jersey City, N.J., on Wednesday as the sun rises behind One World Trade Center building and the redeveloped area where the Twin Towers of World Trade Center once stood in New York City on the 18th anniversary of the attacks.

Mark Lennihan / Associated Press A man holds a photo of a victim during a ceremony marking the 18th anniversary of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, at the National September 11 Memorial, on Wednesday in New York.

Patrick Semansky / Associated Press Flowers rest on a bench bearing a name in memory of retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Gary Smith before a ceremony in observance of the 18th anniversary of the Sept. 11attacks at the Pentagon in Washington on Wednesday.