PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Dozens of 9/11 remembrance ceremonies took place all over the region, marking the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks.
Bells all over rang at 8:46, when the north tower of the World Trade Center was struck by terrorists who hijacked American Airlines Flight 11. At 9:03, the second tower was struck. Bells rang again when each tower fell.
A procession began at the Fireman's Hall museum in Old City at 9:59 a.m., the moment when the south tower fell 20 years ago. Philadelphia police and fire pipes and drums, color guard, and dignitaries made their way over to the Betsy Ross House.
There, speakers took to the courtyard stage — including Mayor Jim Kenney, Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw and Fire Commissioner Adam Thiel - to reflect on the attacks and the days that followed.
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"Thank you to all of the first responders, civilians, military members, whose courage, humanity, their grace, their mercy and ultimately their sacrifices are worthy of being remembered today and every day," said Outlaw.
"We must always remember not just the tragedy of that day and subsequent days, but the goodness and the unity, and the humanity that we have seen in the days since," added Thiel.
A member of the fire department played Taps, and the memorial bell was sounded to remember all 2,819 victims.
In Westville, New Jersey, dozens attended the dedication of a new memorial. Fire Chief Eric Farley told his story from that day as the memorial, with steel from Ground Zero, was unveiled.
"The stone is shaped as the Pentagon with the two steel beams set at 9-foot and 11-foot coming out of the ground," he described.
Matthew Kirschner was there with his family to remember a day nobody should ever forget.
"This is just an emotional day, you know, and this is what this country is all about — small towns like this coming together," he said. "It means a lot to be here, especially with my son and grandson."
"When you talk about this day, whoever you're sitting beside, you're talking to that person and you're buddies. You have something in common and that will never ever ever go away."
Kirschner says he will return again and again with his young grandson, so he can understand what these steel beams truly represent.
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The nine Lower Makefield families who lost loved ones on September 11 were honored at the Garden of Reflection in Bucks County, along with the other victims of 9/11.
Danielle Frost is a member of the 9/11 remembrance committee of Lower Makefield Township in Bucks County.
"The Garden of Reflection is Pennsylvania's memorial to 9/11," she said. In remembrance of the 20th anniversary, National Honor Society volunteers from Pennsbury High School were there to guide visitors around the garden. However, none of them were alive on that day.
"They were not," said Frost. "They're learning about it as history and it's really important to me personally that students and young people understand the events from 20 years ago."
Casey Schaeffer was one of those volunteers, a senior born in 2004. While she wasn't around to experience the events, she said she asked about stories of 9/11 and knows that event particularly touched her community.
"Like my uncle being saved from the twin towers because of traffic," she said. "A lot of them have stories like that that they can share still, even though they weren’t alive."
As a guide, she one of the people there to explain the symbolism in the garden to those who came to pay their respects, "such as the fountain representing each of the towers, the hills on the ground representing the shockwaves of the actual impact."
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Shannon Simpkins, of New Gretna, New Jersey, brought her three children to the garden. She was a second grader in 2001 and said she can't help but feel a deep sadness during this 20th anniversary weekend.
"Our country is not the same and I don't feel like our country is where it should be. I feel we've back-stepped, a lot," she shared.
And while many seem to recall a sense of American unity two decades ago, for Mahanrishi Khalsa, an American Sikh from Princeton Junction, 9/11 was a difficult time.
"It was traumatic in a lot of ways because I wear white generally," he said. "I have a turban and a beard, so realizing things would change for us because of the nature of where this came from."