The United States marked 24 years since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks on Thursday with somber ceremonies at the Pentagon, New York and Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Family members and loved ones of the nearly 3,000 people killed read out their names as politicians honored their sacrifices.
“Today, as one nation, we renew our sacred vow that we will never forget Sept. 11, 2001,” President Donald Trump said during the observance at the Pentagon, which took place in an internal courtyard of the building this year rather than its traditional location outside its walls near the building’s 9/11 memorial.
“If you attack the United States of America, we will hunt you down, and we will find you,” he added.
The attack at the Pentagon killed 184 service members and civilians when hijackers steered a passenger jet into U.S. military headquarters. The youngest Pentagon attack victim, Dana Falkenberg, was just three years old.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who served in the Army National Guard, said at the ceremony that day gave him “an unshakable call to action, a duty to defend our sacred homeland with everything I had.”
“Like all of you, 9/11 was the ultimate validator to serve,” he said.
The secretary took a moment during the ceremony to warn that the United States should use its military “ruthlessly” for limited operations.
“War must not become a mere tool for Global Social Work eager to risk American blood and treasure for utopian fever dreams. We should hit hard, wreak vengeance and return home,” he said.
The remembrances, in which the nation comes together in a time of unity, are being held during a time of increased political tensions. On Wednesday, conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot and killed while speaking at a college in Utah.
The president announced Kirk would be posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, calling him a “giant of his generation” and a “champion of liberty.”
A drumbeat of attacks and threats against political figures has steadily reverberated into American society this year. Just three months ago, a masked gunman shot and killed Minnesota State Representative Melissa Hortman, alongside her husband, Mark. That same morning, State Senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, were also shot and injured in a separate, but related, attack. Both survived.
Two months before that, an arsonist set the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion ablaze while Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro and his family slept inside.
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