Trump cites ‘American defiance’ in 9/11 tribute to victims

President said nation shared the grief of the family members whose loved ones were lost that day

Flowers are left on the National 9/11 Memorial to mark the anniversary of the 2001 attacks. Reuters

President Donald Trump on Tuesday praised the men and women of United Flight 93 for saving countless lives when they struggled with hijackers on September 11, 2001, and called the field where the plane went down a monument to “American defiance”.

Commemorating the 17th anniversary of the attacks that destroyed the World Trade Centre in New York and struck the Pentagon outside Washington, Mr Trump said the nation shared the grief of family members whose loved ones were lost that day.

“We grieve together for every mother and father, sister and brother, son and daughter, who was stolen from us at the Twin Towers, the Pentagon and here in this Pennsylvania field,” Mr Trump said.

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Commemorations also took place in New York and Washington to mark the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks by Al Qaeda, in which up to 3,000 people were killed.

Flight 93 was heading to San Francisco from Newark, New Jersey, when it was hijacked. Passengers stormed the plane’s cockpit and sought to seize back control. Everyone onboard was killed when the plane crashed in a field, preventing what was thought to be another planned target in Washington.

Family members of Flight 93, some of their voices breaking, read aloud the names of the 40 passengers and crew members who died. Memorial bells tolled.

Mr Trump and his wife Melania travelled to the Flight 93 National Memorial from Washington and paused for a moment of reflection while overlooking the field where the plane crashed.

“They boarded the plane as strangers and they entered eternity linked forever as true heroes,” Mr Trump said, of the passengers and crew.

“This field is now a monument to American defiance. This memorial is now a message to the world: America will never, ever submit to tyranny.”

Mr Trump is still dealing with the consequences of that day, with the war in Afghanistan, launched in response to the attacks, now America’s longest. He cited the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in his remarks, saying: “Nearly 7,000 service members have died facing down the menace of radical Islamic terrorism.”

In New York, the Bell of Hope rang out at St Paul’s Chapel to mark the moment at 8.46am when the first of two hijacked planes hit the World Trade Centre. The bell has been rung on every anniversary since 2002, when it was presented to New York by the City of London to honour those who died.

Mourners gathered at the National September 11 Memorial Plaza in Manhattan for the annual reading of victims’ names. Members of the UN Security Council stood for a moment of silence, led by United States ambassador Nikki Haley.