14 years later, Americans remember 9/11

WASHINGTON

Across the U.S. on Friday, American banded together amid somber recollections of attacks that claimed the lives of more than 3,000 victims 14 years ago.

Four airliners hijacked by 19 al-Qaeda terrorists crashed into sites along the U.S.’s eastern seaboard, including the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, on Sept. 11, 2001.

President Barack Obama observed a moment of silence on the South Lawn of the White House before traveling to Fort Meade, Maryland, where he will hold a town hall meeting with members of the armed services.

“14 years after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, we honor those we lost. We salute all who serve to keep us safe. We stand as strong as ever,” Obama said in a tweet.

Earlier in the day, hundreds of Defense Department personnel participated in an event to unfurl a large American flag at the site of the crash at the Pentagon.

Speaking near the Pentagon's west wall where Flight 77 crashed, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said Americans will not forget the lives lost and damage caused.

"When terrorists attacked the Pentagon, they tore a hole in this building. They tore at places in your hearts that may never heal completely. But as you know better than anyone, they did not and could not take from us what defines us. As Americans, we are defined by our resilience, by our readiness to stand up for our values, by our willingness to honor the past, even as we always begin anew," he said to victims families. 

In New York, where more than 2,700 Americans lost their lives when two airliners struck the World Trade Center, hundreds of families gathered at a national memorial as bells tolled and mourners held moments of silence for the deceased.

For the first time, the ceremony was held in the shadow of the recently completed One World Trade Center, the 1,776-foot tower that replaced the two that fell during the attacks.