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Americans stopped to mourn and remember 9/11 on Monday, 22 years after the deadliest terror attack on US soil — at both ground zero and events across the nation.
Nearly 3,000 people were killed that crisp Tuesday morning on Sept. 11, 2001, when Islamist hijackers crashed planes into New York’s World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a field in Pennsylvania.
Scores of people gathered in New York early Monday as bells tolled, honoring the thousands of lives lost in the unthinkable tragedy.
Six moments of silence were also held, recognizing when each of the WTC towers were attacked, when the Pentagon was struck and when the hijacked Flight 93 crashed in Shanksville.
Iliana Flores, 60, was at ground zero to remember her little brother, Carlos R. Lillo, who was part of the EMS Battalion 49.
“I have this magazine from 22 years ago. I went to the supermarket to buy a magazine to remember. When I was looking through it and I got to this page, there was my brother. And that’s when I knew that he was here working,” she told The Post.
“That’s when we realized something happened to him there,” Flores added, pointing to snapshots of her brother featured in Newsweek.
“He told my mother a month before, if I die, I want to die doing my job. And he loved his job. He loved helping people,” she said.
Another mourner, James Giaccone, said it’s crucial for him to attend the ceremony with his family each year in memory of his brother, Joseph Giaccone.
“If their name is spoken out loud, they don’t disappear,” he said.
“I hope I never see the day when they minimize this. It’s a day that changed history.”
Throughout the solemn event, people stood with signs and pictures of their loved ones. Some brought flowers and wore T-shirts emblazoned with photos of those they lost.
The granddaughter of Firefighter Robert James Crawford, who was part of Safety Battalion 1, Randall’s Island, read out names, including her grandfather’s, during the ceremony.
“Being your granddaughter is something I will always be grateful for and a title I am blessed to have. I’m so proud to be a part of you and be able to carry you wherever I go. Our hero, we love you to the moon and back. Keep watching over us,” she said.
Notably missing from the New York City commemoration at the National Sept. 11 Memorial and Museum plaza, however, was President Joe Biden.
Instead, the president was set to deliver remarks later Monday at a ceremony in Anchorage, Alaska after concluding a five-day trip to India and Vietnam.
Biden’s decision was a deviation from what had been a standard for presidents — and makes him the first president to commemorate the day of rememberance in Alaska, instead of the traditional New York City, Virginia or Pennsylvania events.
In his place at ground zero was Vice President Kamala Harris to watch as relatives of victims read out the names of the dead.
Some of the heartbroken family members also called out politicians who didn’t attend or who didn’t stay for the entire ceremony.
“Thank you all for coming and thank you Mayor Bloomberg for staying,” one woman said.
Another man at the end of the reading of the names noted, “I wish the others [politicians] would have gotten to stay a little longer.”
Harris’ husband, First Gentleman Doug Emhoff, is expected to attend a wreath-laying ceremony in Pennsylvania, where Flight 93 crashed.
The Flight 93 National Memorial in Stoystown, which is operated by the National Park Service, now offers a new educational video, virtual tour and other materials for teachers.
Over 10,000 students have registered for access to the free “National Day of Learning” program, which will be available through the fall.
“We need to get the word out to the next generation,” said memorial spokesperson Katherine Hostetler, a National Park Service ranger.
First Lady Jill Biden is also due to lay a wreath at the 9/11 memorial at the Pentagon.
With Post wires
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