Sept. 11 (UPI) — President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, former President Donald Trump and running mate J.D. Vance will attend 9/11 memorial ceremonies Wednesday at the attack crash sites in New York City, the Pentagon and Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
All four attended a ceremony at the Memorial plaza at ground zero, the site of the attack in which terrorists using hijacked commercial jets struck the World Trade Center‘s Twin Towers 23 years ago in New York City.
“Today, our nation comes together to renew our sacred vow: Never Forget,” Biden said in a statement. “Never forget each of the 2,977 precious lives stolen from us when terrorists attacked our nation. Never forget their families who still bear the grief from that searing September morning. Never forget the heroic citizens and survivors who rushed to help their fellow Americans. And never forget that when faced with evil — and an enemy that sought to tear us apart — we endured.”
Biden said in the darkest of hours, America found the light.
“In the face of fear, we came together — to defend our country, and to help one another,” Biden added. “That is why terrorists targeted us in the first place: our freedom, our democracy, our unity.”
Vice President Kamala Harris said in a statement that the anniversary “is a day of solemn remembrance as we mourn the souls we lost in a heinous terrorist attack on Sept. 11, 2001.”
“We stand in solidarity with their families and loved ones,” she said, adding that in the days that followed 9/11, “We were all reminded that unity is possible in America. Together, we made clear we will not bend or break in the face of terrorism.”
Harris urged Americans to reflect “on what binds us together as one: the greatest privilege on Earth, the pride and privilege of being an American.”
Trump released a video statement last year noting the anniversary of the attack.
“No one who lived through the horror of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks can ever forget the agony and the anguish of that terrible day. It was a terrible day,” he said in the video. “We will never forget.”
Just hours after Harris and Trump debated in Philadelphia they will fly to the Shanksville, Pa., Flight 93 memorial after appearing at the New York ceremony.
The terrorists had intended to crash Flight 93 into the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., but passengers and crew forced a crash landing in Somerset County, Pa.
Harris visited all three 9/11 crash sites in 2021 with Biden and spoke alongside former President George W. Bush.
Trump did not participate in formal 9/11 commemoration ceremonies in 2021. Instead, he went to Florida to give commentary on a pay-per-view boxing match.
He visited New York City first responders before heading to Florida for the boxing match.
