USS Constitution 9/11 Memorial Cruise
Marking the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States, the USS Constitution held memorial ceremonies and did a "turnaround" cruise around Boston harbor to honor the 2,997 Americans killed that day. During the cruise an overflight of F-15 fighter jets passed over the ship underway in the harbor. Please see link for more details. Twenty years ago I, my wife, and four children were preparing to fly to Italy out of JFK airport in New York City. I am an academic and I had one of 65 papers accepted world wide for presentation at a special conference at the Vatican on Humanity and Work, the conference to begin on 9/12. Presenters and their families after the conference were to be taken to the Pope's summer residence outside Rome for a private audience. Obviously, we never got off the ground that day. The college at which I teach lost 6 alumni that day in the World Trade Center, 2 of whom were father and son working for the same financial institution. A man I had as a student when I was a high school teacher was also killed that day -- I remember him as a quiet 18 year old, although he was in his 40's on the day of his death. I live in the Hudson River Valley about 90 miles North of New York City -- hundreds of cars were towed away from the commuter train stations in the Valley in the days following -- cars of people who went to work that day and did not return.
It is a sad and very somber day for all Americans who remember so vividly what happened on 9/11.
https://ussconstitutionmuseum.org/events/september-11/
