9/11 - Tenth Anniversary

On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, foreign terrorists hijacked four commercial airplanes and struck the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. Passengers on a fourth plane, United Flight 93, fought back and the aircraft crashed in a remote field in Pennsylvania, far from a suspected target in the nation's capital. Nearly 3,000 people perished in the attacks.

Rendering of 9/11 Memorial at the World Trade Center,

opening this September 11th.

The National September 11 Memorial is a tribute of remembrance and honor to the nearly 3,000 people killed in the terror attacks of September 11, 2001 at the World Trade Center site, near Shanksville, Pa., and at the Pentagon, as well as the six people killed in the World Trade Center bombing in February 1993.

The Memorial’s twin reflecting pools are each nearly an acre in size and feature the largest manmade waterfalls in the North America. The pools sit within the footprints where the Twin Towers once stood. Architect Michael Arad and landscape architect Peter Walker created the Memorial design selected from a global design competition that included more than 5,200 entries from 63 nations.

The names of every person who died in the 2001 and 1993 attacks are inscribed into bronze panels edging the Memorial pools, a powerful reminder of the largest loss of life resulting from a foreign attack on American soil and the greatest single loss of rescue personnel in American history.

Next Monday, for the first time, the public will be able to visit the beautiful yet solemn 9/11 Memorial. It’s been a mad rush to meet the 10th anniversary deadline, but it appears that the workers at Ground Zero have succeeded in getting everything ready on time.

As reported by the New Jersey Record:

“On a recent tour, the memorial appeared nearly ready for the ceremony: The massive voids shaped in the footprints of the original towers held shallow pools of water. The protective blankets covering the nearly 3,000 victims’ names etched into bronze parapets had been removed; a worker was waxing the metal surface. And new plant life added vibrancy to the plaza’s stone floor: All 225 swamp white oak trees had been planted, and landscapers were touching up freshly laid stretches of lush Kentucky bluegrass and beds of ivy, all of which withstood the winds and storm surge of Hurricane Irene.”