Trump is marking the 17th anniversary of 9/11 at the Pennsylvania memorial

9/11 Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania

(Image credit: Jeff Swensen/Getty Images)

President Trump and first lady Melania Trump will travel to Shanksville, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday to commemorate the 17th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, D.C. Some 40 passengers and crew crashed United Flight 93 near Shanksville to thwart an attempt by hijackers to ram the plane into an unknown target in Washington, D.C. Trump's "focus will be on remembering that horrific day and remembering the lives that were lost, and certainly honoring the individuals who were not only lost that day, but also put their lives of the line to help in that process,” White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Monday.

Vice President Mike Pence will attend the annual ceremony at the Pentagon, one of the targets that terrorist hijackers hit on 9/11. Trump visited the Pentagon last Sept. 11. Overall, nearly 3,000 people were killed in the terrorist attacks, most of them when two hijacked planes crashed into and brought down the twin World Trade Center towers in Lower Manhattan. Family and friends of those victims will gather near the National September 11th Memorial and Museum on Tuesday morning for the annual commemoration ceremony and reading of the names of the dead.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.