Thousands to gather today for the 16th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks

Monday is the 16th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington. This year, as on the past 15 anniversaries, there will be commemoration ceremonies at the World Trade Center site in lower Manhattan, the Pentagon, and in the field outside Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where a fourth hijacked airliner crashed into a field. Nearly 3,000 people died in the 9/11 attacks, and hundreds of first responders have died since from illnesses related to the toxic rubble at Ground Zero.

On Sunday, ground was broken for a 93-foot-high tower at the Flight 93 National Memorial outside Shanksville to honor the 33 passengers and seven crew who died on that flight. Vice President Mike Pence will be in Shanksville for Monday's commemoration, Defense Secretary James Mattis and Gen. Joseph Dunford will host a private ceremony at the Pentagon in the morning for relatives of those who died there, President Trump is planning to visit the Pentagon later in the day, and thousands of people will be at the World Trade Center 9/11 memorial for the annual reading of the names of the dead, moments of silence, and bell tolls. The first responders will have their own ceremony at a dedicated memorial, with a steadily growing list of victims, in Nesconset, Long Island.

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