it s one of three sites where americans gathered in somber remembrance, honoring each one of the 2,977 people killed in the terrorist attacks on september 11th. at the footprints where the twin towers proudly stood over lower manhattan, president biden and the first lady were join by the obamas and a sea of 9/11 families to memorialize those lost two decades ago. [ bell ] at 8:46 a.m., the first of six moments of silence marking the instant the first hijacked airliner struck the north tower. mike lowell s daughter sarah was a flight attendant on that plane. as we recite the names of those we lost, my memory goes back toe that terrible day, when it felt like an evil specter had defended on our world, but it was also a time when many people acted above and beyond the ordinary. reporter: the tributes continued throughout the morning with the nation pausing five more times.
sight of the pentagon hit by a jetliner 20 years ago signaled the beginning of a day of tributes. reporter: it s one of three sites where americans gathered in sommer remembrance, honeering each one of the 2977 people killed in the terrorist attacks on september 11th. at the footprints where the twin towers stood over manhattan president biden and the first lady were joined by the obamas in a sea of 9/11 families to memorialize those lost two decades ago. at 8:46 a.m. the first of six moments of silence marking the instant the first hijacked airliner struck the north tower. sara was a flight attendant on that plane. we redrcite the names of tho we lost, that memory goes back to that terrible day when it felt like an evil spector had descended on our world.
too quickly to the judgment here that this happened because there was a lull in the peace process in the middle east. particularly if it s osama bin laden and that would be my number one suspect. he s been at this for quite some time. he took out our embassies in kenya and tanzania. he took so, i don t think we ought to draw that connection to quickly between the absence of progress in the peace process in the middle east and what happened to america today. i think these people that did this have been dead set for a long time on a terrorist attack against america. they ve succeeded, unfortunately. it s really rather amazing that they were able to do what they did, with respect to the commercial airliners. we haven t had a hijack in this country, i don t think, of an airliner, for over ten years. so, we need to take some careful looks at what happened. exactly what happened and what we can do to prevent it in the
washington in the next couple of days, america ex going to be changed by the events of this day. it s good at nbc s reporter, who is at the pentagon across the river of course from the nation s capital. he was there in his office this morning when he heard an explosion and told us immediately he didn t know for sure when it was. we learned later, of course, jim, it was the unthinkable. a hijacked airliner that crashed into the building. back here, fresh flames are flickering from the roof of the building. rescue workers continue to search the bomb portion of the pentagon. it s believed that scores of dead are still buried beneath the rubble, no exact death toll has been yet released here, but a temporary morgue has been set up at the courtyard at the center of the pentagon complex.
at 8:46 a.m., the first of six moments of silence marking the instant the first hijacked airliner struck the north tower. his daughter sara was a flight attendant on that plane. as we recite the names of those we lost, my memory goes back to that terrible day when it felt like an evil specter had descended on our world, but it was also a time when many people acted above and beyond the ordinary. reporter: the tributes continued throughout the morning with the nation pausing five more times. the moment each twin tower fell, when the pentagon was attacked, and the moment flight 93 crashed into a field in pennsylvania. it is truly an honor to be with all of you at this field of honor. reporter: along with vice president kamala harris, president george w. bush who served as commander in chief in 2001 helped lead a memorial at that site. the 33 passengers and 7 crew