September 11th, 2001, is etched into history as one of the worst attacks ever on American soil. As many men and women were heading to work at the World Trade Center as&nbsp;usual, &nbsp; nobody could foresee the events that would happen. On that early Tuesday morning, Islamic radicals hijacked four airplanes, two of which they&nbsp;then crashed into the Towers within minutes of each other. Thousands of people were killed in these attacks, as well as the attacks on the Pentagon and United Flight 93. In the days following 9/11, President George W. Bush declared war against those who had attacked America.The war in Afghanistan, also known as Operation Enduring Freedom, began on October 7th, 2001, as American and British forces began an airstrike over Afghanistan(1). Within months, thousands of troops from &nbsp;America and&nbsp;many allied countries were deployed into Afghanistan to help the fight against Islamic radicals. As the war continued for years to come, thousands of troops lost their lives protecting our country.&nbsp;If not for the attacks on the World Trade Center, Operation Enduring Freedom would have never occurred. Many say that the attack on American soil was the first act in the war in Afghanistan. On the day of the attacks, many members of the National Guard were involved in rescue, and in the cleanup in following the days . After the attacks, many brave men and women voluntarily signed up for active duty in the United States armed forces. This site is where the start of the war occurred.

World Trade Center before the attacks on 9/11

Aftermath of the attacks on the World Trade Center

Website

Military History from October 2001-March 2002

The World Trade Center buildings were attacked on September 11th, 2001, by Al Qaeda forces that hijacked American airplanes. These attacks prompted the war in Afghanistan, which is, in some ways, still occurring in the Middle East. This is important not only in American history, but military history. If not for these terrible attacks on the World Trade Center, the war in Afghanistan would have never occurred. Along with the attack of Flight 93 and the Pentagon, this day will live on to be one of the worst attacks on American soil. 

Memorial Reflecting Pools and September 11th Terrorist Attack on the World Trade Center

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The tragic events of September 11th, 2001 shaped the history of the 21st century. This short walking tour includes monuments, markers, buildings, museums, and other sites around Ground Zero and the National September 11th Memorial Museum.

Located on the Greenwich side of Engine and Ladder Company 10, this massive bronze memorial is a tribute to the 343 firefighters who lost their lives responding to the attack on the World Trade Center. The bas-relief sculpture depicts firefighters engaged in rescue operations and mourning the loss of their fellow citizens, rescue workers, and neighbors. 

FDNY 343 Memorial Wall

The statue was located at the&nbsp;Austin J. Tobin Plaza prior to September 11th. Following the extensive reconstruction of the&nbsp;area, &nbsp;what was once Tobin Plaza is now home to Greenwich Street. The statue was moved to Battey Park where it stood until the city passed a unanimous resolution calling for the Sphere to "return home" to the new Liberty Park. The sculpture was moved to the newly-completed Liberty Park in August, 2017.&nbsp;

Sculptor Fritz Koenig designed the twenty-seven-foot bronze monument to represent the connection between global trade and global peace. The statue was damaged but remained standing after the terrorist attacks on September 11th, and soon became a symbol of the city and the world's resilience in the face of global terrorism The statue now includes an eternal flame that memorializes those who lost their lives while also symbolizing hope for peace. The “Sphere” is located near the St. Nicholas National Shrine and overlooks the National September 11 Memorial.

The Sphere

On September 11, 2001, nineteen terrorists under the direction of Osama Bin Laden hijacked four commercial airliners. Their orders were to fly the airliners into these targets with the intention of killing as many people as possible. Two planes were flown into the World Trade Center towers, one was crashed into the Pentagon, and United Airlines Flight 93 was kept from its target (reportedly the United States Capital) by the brave passengers who managed to retake the plane from the hijackers. Flight 93 and all of its passengers and crew were killed, however, when during a fight in the cockpit, the plane crashed into the ground near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.&nbsp;In all, the terrorists killed 2,996 Americans. &nbsp;

This statue stands to watch over One World Trade Center and remains a symbol of&nbsp;America’s&nbsp;military response to the and the actions of Special Operations troops.

Dedicated in 2012 in honor of the mounted cavalry scouts in Afghanistan who became the first American soldiers on horseback since 1942, this became the first monument dedicated to the United States military service members assigned to special operations units. The “Horse Soldier” statue stands in front of One World Trade Center where the terror attacks took place on September 11, 2001. The “Horse Soldier” statue represents the anniversary, on October 19, when special operations troops responded to the terrorist attacks with boots on the ground in Afghanistan. Unfamiliar with terrain and guerrilla warfare, special operations troops quickly adapted and overcame enormous operational challenges. One of these challenges was transportation over the rough terrain. These troops were given horses to navigate Afghanistan and overcame the harsh territory’s challenges, pushing the surviving members of Al-Qaeda into the mountains of Pakistan. In response, they became known as America's “Horse Soldiers.” 

America's Response Monument (Horse Soldier Statue) 

From an individual standpoint, September 11, 2001 was posed to be a day like any other day with people heading to work or touring around NYC. It had never occurred to people that the attacks would have happened. However, in the morning, 19 hijackers took control of four commercial airplanes intending to hit four designated targets in America. One of them was heading for San Francisco, California while the other three headed for Los Angeles. They were all of the Boeing models with two being 757s and the others being 767s.One of the planes crashed into the World Trade Center’s North Tower at 8:46 A.M. and then another followed straight into the South Tower later on. The third one flew right into the Pentagon an hour later. The fourth one never reached their target, but it was believed to be either the U.S. Capitol or the White House. Flight audio recordings showed that the passengers tried to ward off the hijackers after the first plane crashed which lead to the hijackers crashing the other planes intentionally. These hijackers used spraying mace and tear gas to subdue attendants on the planes to gain control.Due to the crash and fires breaking out inside, the buildings collapsed to the ground leaving rubble and dust in the air. The Federal Aviation Administration grounded all other civilian flights to prevent another attack. International flights were cancelled or redirected back to the countries they first launched from. Nearly 3,000 American citizens perished in the attacks with 6,000 severely injured in one of the most deadliest attacks on U.S. soil since Pearl Harbor in WWII. At the Pentagon, 125 workers died when the plane crashed. 70 were official workers and 55 were military personnel. For example, Timothy J. Maude, a U.S. Army Lieutenant General, lost his life in the attack on the Pentagon.In the immediate aftermath, international flights were halted stranding Americans in other countries for days and airport security was ramped up even more. Law enforcement, first responders, and medical staff helped retrieve bodies from the debris left behind from the two Twin Towers. Nine days later, U.S. President George W. Bush addressed the nation and a joint session of Congress about the attack. Following legislation were the Homeland Security Act of 2002, which lead to the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, and the PATRIOT ACT, a law that would hopefully deter global terrorism. There was also an invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan in 2003 that led to endless battling between the U.S. Army and terrorist groups in the Middle East. George W. Bush said this push for war was to stop Al-Queda from using “weapons of mass destruction,” but no weapons of the sort were found anywhere in the region leading to backlash against President Bush for lying. Years later in 2019, President Donald Trump signed into law the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund granting money towards the victims’ families.A memorial was created to honor the victims that died and the people that tried helping during the attacks in 2011. It is located on the site where the World Trade Center was attacked and the Twin Towers fell. A light visual showcasing the Twin Towers is also held in New York on every anniversary of the attacks. The museum was opened and dedicated in 2014 in a ceremony hosted by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and President Barack Obama. The museum contains pieces from the hijacked airplanes and steel from the Twin Towers. Other exhibits holds a timeline of the attacks, recordings from hijackers, passengers, and first responders, video footage of the attacks, and wrecked emergency vehicles like fire trucks and ambulances.

With the memorial opening in 2011 and the museum opening in 2014, the 9/11 Memorial includes a variety of memorial spaces and a museum located at the World Trade Center's former Twin Towers location in New York City. The memorial was built in dedication to those who lost their lives during the attack on September 11, 2001. The memorial has the name of those that were killed in the terrorist attacks on the WTC, which killed approximately 2,977 people, as well as those who died during the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, which killed just 6 people. For many people who experienced 9/11, even from afar, coming to this site is a kind of pilgrimage. Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Former President Barack Obama made the dedication to the victims with the opening of the museum.

National 9/11 Memorial & Museum

This museum is located within the boundaries of where the World Trade Center once stood and is largely below ground. Visitors enter at the Pavilion, which contains two features: Two tridents, 80 feet tall, that once supported the exterior of the North Tower and a long row of international flags, a collection of which adorned the lobbies of the original WTC, these hang in the atrium1. From the Pavilion, visitors walk down the ramp portion of the museum, which pays tribute to the use of ramps&nbsp;for the construction of the WTC&nbsp;in the 1960s and the Ground Zero Recovery effort, when people and objects needed to be&nbsp;transported away from the site. The "We Remember" audio exhibition can be heard when traveling down the ramps, an oral history of the global significance of 9/11--personal testimonials of the events of 9/11/01. According to the museum's information about this exhibit, it is&nbsp;"recorded in 28 languages spoken by people from 48 different countries"2. &nbsp;Tributes and visual remembrances&nbsp;of the terrorist attacks hang on a 50 ft by 20 ft concrete "Tribute"&nbsp;wall that is located within the "footprint" of the South Tower3.&nbsp;Foundation Hall contains the retaining wall of the WTC that prevailed in the devastation, called "The Slurry Wall," which stands at a height of 36 feet and is plastered in missing persons' posters, inscriptions, and mementos of the victims4.&nbsp;Finally, The Memorial Hall occupies the space between the location of the North and South Tower footprints, and features the watercolor mural "Trying to Remember the Color of the Sky on That September Morning" by Spencer Finch.. The number of tiles that display&nbsp;various shades of&nbsp;blue reflect the number of lives lost in both WTC attacks: 2,983. A quotation from Virgil's&nbsp;Aeneid&nbsp;gives a poignant reminder with the mural, "No Day Shall Erase You From the Memory of Time5." The museum boasts over 11,000 artifacts, which include remnants of the WTC, personal belongings of the victims, tribute artwork, oral histories, and archives6. These are in a variety of mediums from written work, tangible objects, artwork, and textiles. In addition, more than&nbsp;40,000 still photographs, 300 moving&nbsp;images, and 3,000 audio recordings and oral histories are housed in the museum's digital collections6.&nbsp;Many of these artifacts are presented in the museum's permanent and rotating exhibitions. "Witness at Ground Zero" is a collection of 500 images of Ground Zero and the events of September 11th photographed by rescuers and other workers, and French photographer, Stephane Sednaoui7. The Historical Exhibition, which is situated in the footprint of the Northern Tower, spans the timeline&nbsp;from pre-9/11, to the attacks themselves, to post 9/11. This exhibition gives context to the 9/11 attacks in the first installment;&nbsp;provides interactive displays that explore the events that took place as well as documenting the actions of first responders in the second installment; and in the third installment, explores the impact that 9/11 left on people from all over&nbsp;the globe8.&nbsp;Another exhibition that allows for reflection is the Memorial Exhibition, which features the photographs and biographies of the victims of both the 1993 and 2001 attacks. Personal items are displayed on a rotating basis, so as to allow the families of the victims&nbsp;to donate items at their discretion9.&nbsp;In addition, there are several exhibitions that include even more photography, interactive displays, and memorabilia. They are Rebirth at Ground Zero, Hope at Ground Zero, Past: Beyond Ground Zero, and Reflecting on 9/11--an opportunity for visitors to record their thoughts about the horrific day and its aftermath. In addition, there are also rotating exhibitions. The admission fee to the museum varies depending on the choice of general admission or guided tour with a docent, age and membership status. The museum wants to ensure that all visitors have a good experience, and so the museum is entirely accessible to people with mobility devices or limited mobility. There are also pamphlets in Braille or large print, assistance with displays, and audio tours available for visitors who are visually impaired. In addition, for visitors who are deaf or hard of hearing, the museum offers various accommodations including guided tours with American Sign Language interpreters and close captioning on the interactive displays. These must be&nbsp;requested two weeks in advance of the visit.&nbsp;For more information, please click the link that will take you to the Accessibility page for the Museum.

On September 11, 2001, the deadliest terrorist attack in history occurred in New York City,  when two commercial airplanes, American Airlines 111 and United 175, were hijacked by the al-Quaeda terrorist group. The hijackers crashed these planes into the North and South towers of the World Trade Center, respectively. That day, 2606 people died in and around the location of the World Trade Center. The desire to memorialize the events of September 11th was immediate, and a competition was held for the construction of the World Trade Center Memorial.This museum memorializes the attacks on the World Trade Center in 1993 and 2001 and contains artifacts from Ground Zero, including the "Survivor's Staircase", photographs of the victims, interactive displays, and two main exhibitions. The mission of the museum is to explore the implications and "continuing significance" of the 9/11 attacks. The collection also includes an online catalog and oral histories from first responders and family members of victims.

The National September 11 Memorial Museum 

The 104-story,1776-foot tall building&nbsp;named One
World Trade Centers was initially developed by Silverstein Properties and taken
over by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in April 2006. The tower shares a name with the&nbsp;northern
Twin Tower of the original World Trade Center complex, which was destroyed in the&nbsp;terrorist attacks of September 11,2001. As a result of this event, 2,996 people died and a war on terrorism began.&nbsp;The ideas for what was to be done were very conflicted. Some people wanted a monument, and&nbsp;some wanted to rebuild what was previously there. So, a plan to build&nbsp;both was created to appease both sides.&nbsp;The official design for the building&nbsp;was released on June 28, 2005. Construction began less than a year later on April 27, 2006,just south of the original World Trade Center complex. During the building process, it was often illuminated for certain important&nbsp;events, such as the ten-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. It boasted the colors red, white, and blue.There are plans to build a museum nearby to remember those lost to the terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers. President Obama highlighted this remembrance by writing the following phrase&nbsp;on a beam that would be used in construction: "We remember, we rebuild, we come back stronger!" It is no coincidence that the height of the so called "Freedom Tower"&nbsp;is 1776 feet, a reminder of the the year that the Declaration of Independence was signed.&nbsp;

Before September 11, 2001, the World Trade Center was best recognized by two buildings known as the "Twin Towers". On that Tuesday morning, American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175, were hijacked by terrorists and flown into the North and South Towers. In remembrance, a monument known as "Ground Zero" and the new ONE World Trade Center were built. Today, The ONE World Trade Center is the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, and the fourth tallest building in the world, at 1776 feet.  ONE World Trade Center amassed a price tag over $3.9 billion before furnishing a single floor or office.  The majority of the World Trade Center is office space. However, there are many reminders, tributes, statues, and monuments memorializing the tragic events of the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks on the former complex- an event that left almost 3,000 dead. 

One World Trade Center

This cross was created by artist Jon Krawczyk and installed at this location in 2011 after the original World Trade Cross, two intersecting beams among the wreckage of the September 11th attacks that resembled a Christian cross, was moved to the September 11th Museum. 

September 11th Memorials and Ground Zero Walking Tour

Memorial Reflecting Pools and September 11th Terrorist Attack on the World Trade Center

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

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Additional Information