Eighteen years after the deadliest terrorist attack on U.S. soil, Gov. Ron DeSantis says the day doesn't loom as large as it once did for many Americans. But plenty of people still remember where they were, and what they were doing on September 11, 2001, and the moment continues to be marked in Florida's Capital City each year.
“It is a day of remembrance and although it’s something that has faded and isn’t as raw as it was in the years after, I think for most people it’s something we can never forget,” DeSantis said during Wednesday's ceremony.
The keynote address was delivered by Florida Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services Nikki Fried.
“And so today we remember,” she concluded her remarks. “But today we stand proud to be Americans and to know that fear and terror will not win and our souls and strength will prevail.”
Representatives from Tallahassee and Leon County's first responder agencies gave tributes to their colleagues in New York City who died 18 years ago. They were among the nearly 3,000 people who were killed between attacks on the Twin Towers in New York and the Pentagon, as well as the four hijacked passenger planes used during the event. Another 6,000 people were injured.
Many of the victims remain unidentified to this day, and in the years following, hundreds of first responders and others near the sites have died due to 9/11 cancer and respitory diseases.
