WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump paid tribute Tuesday to the people lost on 9/11, giving special honor to passengers who charged the cockpit of their plane to stop hijackers from attacking Washington, D.C.
"They attacked the enemy," Trump said on the Pennsylvania field where United Flight 93 crashed on Sept. 11, 2001. "They fought until the very end. And they stopped the forces of terror and defeated this wicked, horrible, evil plan."
Also praising the U.S. military, Trump vowed to protect the nation against what he called "radical Islamic terrorism."
As bells tolled and Americans stood in silence across the country, the president and first lady Melania Trump visited the Flight 93 National Memorial near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
The ceremony came two days after the dedication of a Tower of Voices. Built at 93 feet, the tower features 40 wind chimes, each representing a passenger or crew member on the doomed flight.
As at ceremonies at the World Trade Center in New York City and at the Pentagon outside Washington, D.C., mourners in Pennsylvania read off the names of the dead as bells tolled and visitors prayed.
As Trump flew aboard Air Force One to Pennsylvania, White House staff members gathered on the lawn at 8:46 a.m., the minute the first hijacked plane struck a tower of the World Trade Center.