WASHINGTON — The nearly 3,000 people who died when hijackers commandeered four passenger jets on Sept. 11, 2001, were remembered Thursday as President Bush dedicated the first national memorial to the victims and the Republican and Democratic presidential candidates came together in a moment of silence.
In a ceremony at the Pentagon, where 184 people were killed, Bush recalled how the "doomed airliner plunged from the sky, split the rock and steel of this building and changed our world forever."
His voice cracking, Bush noted that "there has not been another attack on our soil in 2,557 days," and said he hoped future generations of Americans with "no living memory" of the attacks would conclude that "we did not tire, we did not falter and we did not fail."
"A memorial can never replace what those of you mourning a loved one lost," Bush told the audience, estimated at 15,000, which included many family members and friends of those who died at the Pentagon.
"We pray that you will find some comfort amid the peace of these grounds. We pray that you will find strength in knowing that our nation will always grieve for you."
In New York, where 2,751 people were killed when American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 slammed into the World Trade Center towers, presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama walked with Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and McCain's wife, Cindy, to a temporary memorial site.
They laid roses at a reflecting pool at the base of ground zero and bowed their heads in silence. They also greeted a group of survivors, emergency workers and family members of those who died.
In honor of the seventh anniversary of the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil, both campaigns suspended television advertising for the day. The two candidates appeared Thursday night at Columbia University at a forum on national service.
In a statement posted on his campaign website, Obama recalled that on the fateful day, "Americans across our great country came together to stand with the families of the victims, to donate blood, to give to charity, and to say a prayer for our country. Let us renew that spirit of service and that sense of common purpose."
Before traveling to New York, McCain spoke at a remembrance ceremony at a field near Shanksville, Pa. -- the spot where United Airlines Flight 93, with 40 passengers and crew aboard, crashed after what investigators have concluded was an uprising against the four hijackers.
