On September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda terrorists carried out coordinated attacks that profoundly affected the United States. Hijackers seized four commercial airliners: two were flown into and destroyed the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, and American Airlines Flight 77 struck the western side of the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. A fourth aircraft, United Airlines Flight 93, crashed in an open field in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, near Shanksville, after passengers and crew fought back against the hijackers. The Flight 93 crash site is now preserved as the Flight 93 National Memorial.
Nearly 3,000 people were killed in the attacks, including civilians, military and government personnel at the Pentagon, and hundreds of firefighters, police officers, emergency medical personnel, and other first responders who entered the World Trade Center complex to rescue others. The Pentagon attack killed 184 people; Flight 93 killed all 40 passengers and crew members aboard, along with the four hijackers.
The scale of the destruction caused an immediate national emergency. U.S. authorities halted civilian air traffic across the country, while rescue, recovery, investigation, and public-health efforts began at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and in Somerset County. In the months and years that followed, the attacks reshaped U.S. intelligence, aviation security, border policy, emergency preparedness, and counterterrorism efforts.
Communities nationwide responded with vigils, donations, volunteer work, and enduring support for victims’ relatives and first responders. Memorial sites at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and the Flight 93 site in Somerset County continue to commemorate the people killed on September 11 and the courage displayed amid the attacks.
Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
