Pentagon, Trump, Biden to mark 9/11 anniversary

The 19th anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001, will be marked with a virtual ceremony at the Pentagon, dueling ceremonies in New York City and a truncated ceremony in Shanksville, Pa., as the coronavirus pandemic affects how Americans honor those killed in the terrorist attacks.

At the Pentagon, the day will start with the traditional unfurling of the American flag on the side of the building at sunrise.

Later in the morning, Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley will conduct a ceremony at the National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial that will be livestreamed.

Families of those killed when Flight 77 struck the Pentagon will not be at the observance ceremony, but they will be able to visit the memorial in small groups throughout the day, the Pentagon said in an advisory.

In New York City, the National Sept. 11 Memorial & Museum will host a commemoration ceremony at 8:40 a.m. that will forgo its traditional live reading of the names of those killed. Instead, a pre-recorded video of the names will be played.

Just a few blocks away at about the same time, the Stephen Stiller Tunnel to Towers Foundation, a nonprofit named after a firefighter killed on 9/11, is hosting its own ceremony with a live name reading.

Vice President Pence and second lady Karen Pence will attend both New York events, according to the White House.

President Trump and Democratic president nominee Joe Biden are both expected to mark 9/11 in Shanksville, Pa., where Flight 93 crashed in a field as passengers tried to retake control of the plane from the hijackers.

The ceremony in Shanksville will be shortened from its normal 90 minutes to about 20 minutes. The event will also be closed to the public, but will be livestreamed.

The Biden campaign said Thursday it will also pull its ads from the airwaves Friday in honor of the solemn anniversary. The Trump campaign has not said if it will do the same.

While not directly a 9/11 memorial, Trump is also expected to award a Medal of Honor to a post-9/11 soldier at the White House on Friday.

Army Ranger Sgt. Maj. Thomas Payne, who enlisted in July 2002, will be awarded the military’s highest decoration for heroic actions during a 2015 mission in Iraq to rescue ISIS hostages.