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Tomorrow marks the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people. Country 107-3 WRWD will have a special program starting at 7am with Chris Marino who will be joined later in the morning by Beth Christy and Uncle Mike. All of the major news networks will be covering the memorials. Here's a quick rundown of what to expect . . .
1. President Biden plans to visit all three sites where the attacks unfolded: The World Trade Center in New York . . . the Pentagon outside D.C. . . . and the memorial near Shanksville, Pennsylvania where Flight 93 crashed. That's the plane that was supposed to hit the Capitol building, but the passengers fought back.
2. The 9/11 Memorial in New York will hold a ceremony where all the victims' names will be read out loud. It starts at 8:30, followed by a moment of silence at 8:46 A.M. when the first plane hit the North Tower. Only the victims' families will be in attendance. (Here's a helpful timeline of how that terrible morning unfolded.)
3. A private ceremony for family will also happen at the Flight 93 Memorial in Pennsylvania to honor the 40 lives that were lost there. They're also doing a candle ceremony tonight, where 40 lanterns will be placed next to the Wall of Names memorial.
4. Another memorial is happening at the Pentagon, where 184 people lost their lives. At sunrise, they'll unfurl a big American flag on the west side of the building where American Airlines Flight 77 hit.
Around a third of Americans are too young to remember 9/11. A report in 2015 put it at 26%. But over 30% of Americans are now 25 and younger. So they were too young to remember, or weren't born yet. (A professor at Stanford who teaches a class about 9/11 says it's weird to be the only one in the room who remembers it now.)
Here are some links to local events happening tomorrow around the Hudson Valley 1, 2, 3.
Here are five stats and facts for the 20th anniversary of 9/11 . . .
1. It's the deadliest terror attack in history. 2,977 people were killed on September 11th, 2001: 2,753 at the World Trade Center . . . 184 at the Pentagon . . . and 40 passengers and crew in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. (Many of the remains still haven't been identified. Two more victims were just ID'd this week through DNA.)
2. 343 New York City firefighters . . . 23 NYPD officers . . . and 37 Port Authority officers lost their lives. Over 6,000 people were also injured. (Thousands of deaths have also been linked to health problems caused by toxic dust at Ground Zero.)
3. More than 80 nationalities lost at least one life that day. The British lost the second highest number of people. 372 non-Americans were killed, including 67 Brits.
4. 20 people were pulled out of the World Trade Center rubble alive. The last survivor was trapped 27 hours before she was rescued.
5. The attacks were devastating, but Americans came together. In the first two days after 9/11, more than 1.5 million units of blood were donated nationwide. And that September alone, people donated $657 million to help the victims' families.
By the end of the year, over $2 BILLION had been donated. Around 60% of Americans gave money, donated blood, or volunteered in various ways. (WeAreTheMighty.com did a great article a while back called "7 Incredible Stories of Heroism on 9/11.")
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