AMERICA—President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden will both commemorate the 19th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in Shanksville, Pennsylvania on September 11.
On September 11, 2001, 19 militants associated with al Qaeda hijacked four airplanes and carried out suicide attacks against targets in the United States.
The 2,200-acre Flight 93 National Memorial marks the spot in rural Pennsylvania where one hijacked flight crashed, killing all 40 people on board. Two others crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York. The fourth into the west side of the Pentagon military headquarters in Washington D.C. Nearly 3,000 people died in the attacks.
The National Park Service co-hosts the annual memorial event in Shanksville. An abbreviated ceremony will be held this year to minimize the spread of COVID-19. A “Moment of Remembrance” is set for 9:45 a.m., and will last 20 minutes. The name of each of the passengers and crew members from Flight 93 will be read aloud with the ringing of the “Bells of Remembrance.”
White House spokesman Judd Deere said that President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump would visit the site “to honor and remember the lives lost.” It was not immediately clear if Trump and Biden’s visits will overlap.
Trump previously marked 9/11 at the Shanksville memorial in 2018. In 2017 and 2019, he visited the Pentagon.
