'Like an eternal flame': Americans honor the fallen on 20th anniversary of Sept. 11

Twenty years after hijackers slammed airplanes into New York City's World Trade Center and the Pentagon outside Washington, Americans came together on Saturday to remember the nearly 3,000 killed on Sept. 11, 2001, and reflect on how the attacks reshaped society and tipped the country into an intractable war. As a first responder struck a silver bell, the ceremony at the Sept. 11 Memorial in lower Manhattan began with a moment of silence at 8:46 a.m. EDT (1246 GMT), the exact time the first of two planes flew into the World Trade Center's twin towers. President Joe Biden was in attendance, his head bowed. Mike Low, the first speaker of the day, described the "unbearable sorrow" caused by the death of his daughter, Sara, a flight attendant on the airliner that hit the North Tower. "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," he said. "A legacy from Sara, that burns like an eternal flame." Relatives then began to read aloud the names of 2,977 victims to the thousands who had gathered on the cool, clear morning, among them former President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, New York's junior senator at the time of the attacks. Bruce Springsteen sang "I'll See You in My Dreams". Uptown at Lincoln Center dancers performed in silver and white robes, signifying the ashes and purity of those who perished in the deadliest attack on US soil. Story has more details.<br/>