Pandemic changes how nation will honor Sept. 11 anniversary
They won’t be the packed, lengthy events of anniversaries past, but organizers of 9/ 11 memorial ceremonies near Shanksville, Pa., and in New York City say they’ve worked to preserve the solemnity and dignified grandeur of such a significant occasion — even as they try to keep audiences safe from COVID- 19.
Friday’s events commemorating the 19th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks will include many of the same traditions and ceremonies as in previous years, but might look and feel different.
In Stonycreek, Somerset County, at the Flight 93 Memorial, what’s traditionally been a 90- minute ceremony with several speakers, routine musical interludes and hundreds of crowd members from the general public will, on Friday, be an intimate 20- minute affair closed to the public.
“At the request of the Families of Flight 93, and in order to adhere to public health guidelines, this year’s observance will be held privately,” a notice on the memorial’s website reads.
The ceremony at 9: 45 a. m. on the Memorial Plaza has been named “Moment of Remembrance,” according to the National Park Service, and will feature — as usual — a ringing of the bells and a reading of the names of the passengers and crew members who banded together on 9/ 11 to fight back against hijackers on Flight 93.
Instead of family members reciting the names of the 40 people killed, one person will read them, memorial spokeswoman Katherine Cordek told The Associated Press, and the park service said there will be no keynote speaker or musical talent to play orchestral interludes.
The memorial grounds closed Thursday at sunset — the entrance gated — and are set to reopen after the ceremony, subject to delays to limit overcrowding. After the ceremony, the visitor center will stay open until 7 p. m., the park service said.
The decision to close the ceremony to the general public came after officials consulted with the Families of Flight 93 foundation and opted to focus on limiting the spread of COVID- 19, which has impacted public gatherings of large numbers for months.
In a statement, Flight 93 National Memorial Superintendent Stephen M. Clark said he thinks the closure will “minimize overcrowding and allow for a safe Memorial observance during this unprecedented time.”
The ceremony will be livestreamed — the result of a partnership with EarthCam, which had provided the memorial with
cameras during its construction so the public could view the proceedings, and which maintains a camera at the Tower of Voices, where 40 wind chimes of different musical pitches are meant to symbolically honor those who were killed.
In New York City, two separate ceremonies will be held at the memorial plaza and at a corner near the World Trade Center, a result of tensions and disagreements over whether family members of 9/ 11 victims should be permitted — during a pandemic — to publicly read the names of their lost loved ones, according to The Associated Press.
To avoid close contact among name- readers, organizers of the memorial at the plaza opted for the name- reading to be done by a recording, which prompted the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation to organize a ceremony of its own nearby welcoming relatives to recite names at a safe distance from one another, the Associated Press reported.
What won’t change at this year’s ceremonies will be the presence of government and political officials, as President Donald Trump will attend the Flight 93 Memorial, Democratic presidential nominee and former Vice President Joe Biden is coming to the Shanksville area after he visits New York, and Vice President Mike Pence is going to both New York ceremonies.
According to the park service, Mr. Trump will be joined by Secretary of the Interior David L. Bernhardt and “other dignitaries” at the 20- minute ceremony. Mr. Trump last visited the memorial in 2018, when he delivered the keynote speech. Last year, Mr. Pence spoke.
Mr. Biden’s campaign says the candidate and his wife, Jill, will travel to New York City in the morning to attend the 9/ 11 Memorial & Museum’s ceremony, then to the Shanksville area “to pay their respects to the victims of Flight 93.”
Last week, Mr. Biden was asked by reporters if he’d meet Mr. Trump or share a stage with him in Shanksville.
“I didn’t know he was going until after I announced I was going,” Mr. Biden said, according to a pool report. “Of course, I’d be happy to meet with the president.”
“Look, the answer is ‘ yes, he’s still the president of the United States,’” added Mr. Biden, who spoke at the memorial in 2011 and 2012 when he was vice president under President Barack Obama.