“Today, I will be too calm for worry, too noble for anger and too strong for defeat. Today, I will believe anything is possible…I will walk through fear without hesitation. Today, I will stand for something.
Today, I will make a difference.”
The National September 11 Memorial is a tribute of remembrance and honor to the nearly 3,000 people killed in the terror attacks of September 11, 2001 at the World Trade Center site, near Shanksville, Pa., and at the Pentagon, as well as the six people killed in the World Trade Center bombing in February 1993.
The Memorial’s twin reflecting pools are each nearly an acre in size and feature the largest manmade waterfalls in the North America. The pools sit within the footprints where the Twin Towers once stood. Architect Michael Arad and landscape architect Peter Walker created the Memorial design selected from a global design competition that included more than 5,200 entries from 63 nations.
The names of every person who died in the 2001 and 1993 attacks are inscribed into bronze panels edging the Memorial pools, a powerful reminder of the largest loss of life resulting from a foreign attack on American soil and the greatest single loss of rescue personnel in American history.
The Pentagon Memorial is designed so that the nation may remember and reflect on the events that occurred on September 11, 2001. The Memorial will be free and open to the public seven days a week. Groups and individuals are welcome in the Memorial each day but guided tours are not offered; the Memorial is meant to be experienced on a more personal level.
A memorial to the passengers and crew of United Flight 93 opened Saturday on the spot where the plane crashed in western Pennsylvania on Sept. 11, 2001.
The Washington Post reported that thousands of people attended the dedication. Former Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky read the names of the dead with a bell tolling twice for each one.
The plane, bound for San Francisco, became the fourth flight hijacked on Sept. 11, 2001, shortly after takeoff from Newark, N.J. Passengers who learned that three other planes had been flown into the World Trade Center and Pentagon from cellphone conversations tried to overpower the hijackers, leading to the crash in Shanksville, Pa.
Where were you on 9/11? Do you have a personal story to share with us? Please share your story and remembrances with us!