Patriot Day

Patriot Day, observed annually on September 11th, is a national day of remembrance and mourning honoring the nearly 3,000 people who lost their lives in the coordinated terrorist attacks carried out on American soil in 2001. On that morning, hijackers commandeered four commercial airplanes, crashing two into the World Trade Center towers in New York City, one into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and a fourth, United Flight 93, into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after passengers courageously fought back against the hijackers. The attacks, the deadliest terrorist act in world history, killed people from more than 90 countries and fundamentally reshaped American national security policy, foreign relations, and daily life in the years that followed, from airport security procedures to the broader global war on terror. Congress designated September 11th as Patriot Day in 2001, and it was later designated jointly as a National Day of Service and Remembrance, encouraging Americans to honor the victims, first responders, and heroes of that day through acts of community service and charitable giving. Each year, the president traditionally issues a proclamation calling for flags to be flown at half-staff and observance of a moment of silence at 8:46 a.m. Eastern time, marking the moment the first plane struck the World Trade Center. Communities across the country mark the day with memorial ceremonies, name readings honoring individual victims, and remembrance events at the National September 11 Memorial in New York, the Pentagon Memorial, and the Flight 93 National Memorial in Pennsylvania.