9/11 remembrance ceremonies planned for national cemeteries, Pentagon, NYC

Sept. 9 (UPI) -- Remembrance events will be held at U.S. national cemeteries throughout 34 states and Puerto Rico on Wednesday as the nation pauses to commemorate the Sept. 11 , 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States.

The Veterans Administration will host more than 60 National Day of Service and Remembrance events at the national cemeteries on the 23rd anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, which killed 2,977 people in the single largest loss of life resulting from a foreign attack on American soil.

In addition to the remembrance services, the VA's National Cemetery Administration says it is partnering with volunteer group Carry the Load and AmeriCorps for a series of 9/11 events in which volunteers will clean headstones and participate in other beautification activities at VA national cemeteries.

"We encourage everyone to join us at one of this year's September 11 National Day of Service events to honor the nation's heroes who served and sacrificed 23 years ago," Acting Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs Ronald Walters said in a statement . "Our acts of volunteer service at cemeteries across the country tell these heroes that we have not forgotten their bravery and all they sacrificed for the country."

On Sept. 11, 2001, 19 terrorists associated with the Islamist extremist group al-Qaeda hijacked four commercial airplanes scheduled to fly from the East Coast to California.

In a coordinated attack that turned the planes into weapons, they intentionally flew two of the planes into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, causing them to collapse.

They also flew a third plane into the Pentagon, while passengers and crew members on the fourth plane, United Airlines Flight 93, forced its hijacker pilot to crash the aircraft into a field in Somerset County, Pa., near the town of Shanksville. Its apparent target was the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington.

In addition to the VA ceremonies throughout the country, groups and individuals from across the political spectrum are also planning special tributes on Wednesday remembering those who died the terrorist attacks.

In New York City, the 9/11 Memorial and Museum will hold its annual Tribute in Light display beginning at dusk.

Assembled on the roof of the Battery Parking Garage south of the 9/11 Memorial, the commemorative public art installation features twin beams of light reaching up to four miles into the sky. They are comprised of eighty-eight 7,000-watt xenon lightbulbs positioned into two 48-foot squares, echoing the shape and orientation of the Twin Towers.

Meanwhile, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris plan to commemorate Sept. 11 with a stop at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, later heading to Ground Zero in New York and to the Pentagon in Arlington, Va.

Due to time needed to set up the annual September 11 Observance Ceremony and to prepare for the visit by Biden and Harris, the Defense Department announced the National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial will be temporarily closed to the public from 5 a.m. Tuesday through Wednesday at 6 p.m., with the exception of any victims' families.