|
Written by Terry / Sue
|
|
Thursday, 25 September 2008 02:51 |
Americans marked the seventh anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks with a heartfelt ceremony at Ground Zero and other solemn remembrances around the country, honoring those killed in the strikes that ended the US's sense of invulnerability and set the stage for two wars.
President George W. Bush helped dedicate a memorial at the Pentagon honoring those who died there.
Bush called it a place of learning for future generations.
"They will learn that the 21st century began with a great struggle between the forces of freedom and the forces of terror. They will learn that this generation of Americans met its duty," Bush said.
"We did not tire, we did not falter and we did not fail. They will learn that freedom prevailed because the desire for liberty lives in the heart of every man, woman and child on earth," he added.
Earlier in the day, Bush marked the seventh anniversary of the deadliest attack on US soil with a moment of silence at the White House at 8:46 a.m. EDT, precisely the moment when Islamic extremists crashed a hijacked airliner into the World Trade Center in New York.
A second plane struck the Trade Center shortly thereafter. Another was flown into the Pentagon and still another crashed in a field at Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
The Pentagon Memorial, built at a cost of 22 (m) million US dollars, contains 184 benches that will glow with light in the night, as well as trees and trickling water.
Each bench is dedicated to an individual victim, and the structures are organized as a time line of the victims' ages, moving from the youngest, 3-year-old Dana Falkenberg to the oldest, 71-year-old John D. Yamnicky.
Nearly 3,000 flags are arrayed in a Pentagon parking lot.
Underneath each bench is a reflecting pool of water. Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and current Secretary of Defense Robert Gates also attended the ceremony at the Pentagon.
The Pentagon ceremony included wreath laying, music and the reading of the names those who perished on American Airlines Flight 77 and inside the building.
The Pentagon Memorial is built on a 1.9-acre parcel of land adjacent to the Pentagon and within view of the crash site. |
|
Last Updated on Tuesday, 27 January 2009 19:48 |
Entertainment