From The American Patriot's Daily Almanac by Bill Bennett:
“On Tuesday, September 11, 2001, nineteen al-Qaeda
terrorists, mostly from Saudi Arabia, hijacked four commercial jetliners and
turned them into flying bombs. Two of the hijacked planes slammed into the
110-story twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. Americans
watched their TV screens in horror as the two skyscrapers, among the tallest in
the world, collapsed. Another plane hit the Pentagon, and the fourth jet
crashed in rural Pennsylvania.
Nearly 3,000 people died in the attacks, including more than
400 firefighters, police officers, and emergency medical services workers who
had rushed to the World Trade Center to help survivors before the buildings
fell.
Among the day’s heroes were passengers on board United
Flight 93, which had left Newark International Airport for San Francisco but
changed course toward Washington, D.C., after four terrorists seized control.
Passengers who began making frantic calls on their cell phones learned that
other airliners had been hijacked and crashed in suicide missions. Realizing
their captors must be headed toward a high-profile target, a group of Flight 93
passengers resolved to stop them.
Passenger Todd Beamer told an operator that he and a few
others were going to jump the hijackers. 'Are you guys ready?' the operator
heard him say to someone. 'Let’s roll!'
Moments later, Flight 93 went down in rural southwestern
Pennsylvania. All aboard were killed. The hijackers’ target was probably the
U.S. Capitol building or the White House.
Congress and the president have designated September 11 as
Patriot Day. The flag should be flown at half-staff, and Americans are asked to
observe a moment of silence to honor the innocent victims who perished during
the worst acts of terrorism ever carried out against the United States."
D&C 3:3:
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