Stepping away from the campaign trail on the 19th anniversary of 9/11, President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden Friday paid tribute to the nearly 3,000 people killed in the deadliest terrorist attacks in U.S. history.
During separate trips to Shanksville, Pennsylvania, a battleground state in the race for president, the two men honored the 40 passengers and crew members who died after battling hijackers aboard United Airlines Flight 93.
Trump and first lady Melania Trump attended a morning memorial service at the Flight 93 memorial in Shanksville. In a speech, the president called the heroes of Flight 93 an “everlasting reminder that no matter the danger, no matter the threat, no matter the odds, America will always rise up, stand tall and fight back.”
A couple hours later, Biden arrived at the same memorial for a less formal service. He placed a wreath of white flowers at the memorial marking the names of victims but did not give any public remarks.
The Trumps took part in a separate wreath laying ceremony with Ed Root, the cousin of flight attendant Lorraine G. Bay.
The former vice president spoke privately to family members of Flight 93 victims Bay, co-pilot LeRoy Homer and passenger Louis Nacke. Earlier in the day, Biden vowed he wouldn’t “make any news today” and said his campaign took down all its advertising.
“It’s a solemn day, and that’s how we’re going to keep it,” Biden said.
Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden greets Vice President Mike Pence at the 19th anniversary ceremony in observance of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in New York, on Friday, Sept. 11, 2020.
Trump and Biden did not cross paths in Shanksville. The site marks where Flight 93 crashed, preventing al qaeda-linked terrorists from reaching their planned target, the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.
But earlier in the day Biden and Vice President Mike Pence touched elbows and greeted each other at New York City at the 9/11 Memorial & Museum’s 19th anniversary commemoration ceremony at the site of the World Trade Center attacks. It was unclear what was said. Trump did not attend the New York event.
As the names of the 2,977 killed on 9/11 were read aloud in New York, Biden comforted an elderly woman in a wheelchair who was holding a picture of her son. She told Biden her son was 43 years old when he died. Biden took the photo, looked it over and reflected on losing his own son, Beau Biden, who died of brain cancer in 2015.
“It never goes away,” Biden said. She repeated his words.❏
