Biden goes to Ground Zero, Shanksville, Pentagon on 9/11 anniversary

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden visited the Pentagon as his last stop on his tour Saturday of the three hallowed sites of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, a brief moment that still resonated coming just 11 days after he ended the 20-year war in Afghanistan.

Biden, joined by first lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Douglas Emhoff, placed a ceremonial wreath as a Marine bugler played taps under clear blue skies, much like those on the day in 2001.

Twenty years ago, shortly after two al-Qaida hijacked airliners flew into each of the two towers of the World Trade Center, a third hijacked plane, American Airlines Flight 77, slammed into the side of the Pentagon, killing 184 service members and civilians.

The ceremony took place at the National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial in Arlington, Virginia, where 184 benches, each engraved with the name of one of those who died in the attack, stand by lighted water pools and are shaded by crape myrtle trees.

Afterward, Biden and his group stood in a small circle as they spoke with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Following custom, Biden kept a respectful silence and did not make a speech at the ceremonies at the Pentagon, the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, or the National September 11 Memorial in lower Manhattan.

He began the day in Manhattan, where the ritual tolling of the bells for each hijacked airliner and the reading of the names of the victims began. Then he went to Shanksville, to commemorate the 44 passengers and crew who died by forcing the al-Qaida hijacked United Flight 93 to crash in a field rather than carry out its mission.

At the Manhattan and Shanksville commemorations, he spent time talking to the families of those killed in the terrorist attacks — but no loved ones appeared to be at the Pentagon for his visit.

Yet the end of the Afghanistan War hung heavily over the day.

In Shanksville where he spoke with reporters, Biden defended his withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan and the chaotic evacuation.

And in a ceremony earlier Saturday at the Pentagon, Milley noted the service members killed and wounded in Afghanistan over two decades "as we close this terrible chapter in our nation's history."

Milley said, "And we are all now conflicted with feelings of pain and anger, sorrow and sadness, combined with pride and resilience." Then he added, "Your sacrifice was not in vain."