On the 11th, Eastern Time, thousands gathered at the World Trade Center Memorial Plaza in New York to mourn the victims of the terrorist attacks that occurred 24 years ago on September 11.
According to China News Service, those who attended the memorial ceremony included not only relatives of the victims, but also New York Governor Hochul, New York City Mayor Adams, former New York Governor Cuomo, former New York City Mayor Giuliani, and former Mayor Bloomberg. U.S. Vice President Vance, who was originally scheduled to attend, changed plans at the last minute to travel to Utah. This marks the first time in recent years that neither the president nor vice president was present at the 9/11 memorial ceremony held at "Ground Zero" in New York.
At around 8:40 a.m. that day, an honor guard composed of New York police officers and firefighters carried the American flag onto the podium, and a 17-year-old high school student sang the U.S. national anthem, officially beginning the memorial ceremony. At 8:46 a.m., a bell tolled in mourning, and the entire venue observed a moment of silence. Subsequently, representatives of the victims’ families took the stage, reading out the names of all the victims one by one.
As in previous years, there were six moments of silence during the ceremony, corresponding to six key time points in the events of 9/11. At 8:46 a.m. on September 11, 2001, a passenger plane crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York; at 9:03 a.m., a second plane hit the South Tower; at 9:37 a.m., the Pentagon was struck by a plane; at 9:59 a.m., the South Tower collapsed; at 10:03 a.m., a plane crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania; and at 10:28 a.m., the North Tower collapsed. During the entire event, terrorists hijacked four planes, resulting in the deaths of nearly 3,000 people.