9/11 remembered at the Pentagon 20 years after deadly attack
ARLINGTON, Va. - The Sept. 11th attack on the Pentagon was the deadliest foreign attack on the government since the War of 1812, and officials are working throughout the morning to honor the victims 20 years later.
The day of remembrance began with the unfurling of a large American flag on the side of the Pentagon at sunrise.
FOX 5's Bob Barnard captured the somber scene:
Officials read the names of the 189 people killed in the 9/11 Pentagon attack. The reading of names took nearly 24 minutes.
FOX 5's Bob Barnard captured the heartbreaking story on the widow and son of one man killed in the attack:
A military chorus then sang "Amazing Grace," and U.S. Air Force Chaplain Randall Kitchens will lead an invocation and moment of silence at 9:37 a.m., the moment American Airlines Flight 77 hit the Pentagon 20 years ago.
Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, and Sec. of Defense Lloyd Austin then delivered remarks.
The chorus sang "God Bless America" before Chaplain Kitchens said his benediction at 10 a.m.
American Airlines Flight 77 was the third flight hijacked by al-Qaeda the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. It departed from Dulles International Airport for Los Angeles before being hijacked over Ohio, shortly after the first plane hit the World Trade Center, and rerouted toward the nation's capital.
Two passengers on board the flight called loved ones on the ground after the hijacking. One of them was Barbara Olson, the wife of then Solicitor General Theodore Olson. Olson had originally planned to fly out Sept. 10, but rescheduled her flight so she could wake up with her husband on his birthday, Sept. 11.
The plane crashed into the west side of the Pentagon at 9:37 a.m. Officials say 64 people on the plane and 125 people inside the Pentagon, including emergency responders, died. Many others were injured.
Officials repaired the Pentagon within a year. The Pentagon Memorial next to the crash site opened on Sept. 11, 2008.