9/11 memorial service: President Trump says US will never submit to tyranny
Speaking in Pennsylvania, the president says Americans will honour attack victims by vowing to "never flinch in the face of evil".
Tuesday 11 September 2018 18:03, UK
President Donald Trump delivered a message of defiance as he spoke at a 9/11 memorial service, saying the US would "never ever submit to tyranny".
The American leader spoke at a ceremony in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where hijackers crashed California-bound Flight 93 into a field on 11 September, 2001.
He paid tribute to victims at the new memorial as several services took place around the country to mark 17 years since the terror attacks.
"We are here today to pay solemn tribute to the 40 passengers and crew members on Flight 93 who rose up, defied the enemy, took control of their destiny and changed the course of history," the president said.
"Today we mourn their loss, share their story and we commemorate their incredible valour... we remember the moment America fought back."
The 40 passengers and crew members on board attempted to regain control of the jet after speaking to relatives on the phone and learning the hijacking was part of a larger plot targeting the World Trade Center in New York.
As passengers and crew tried to enter the cockpit to stop the hijackers, the terrorists then made the decision to crash the plane before reaching their final destination - which is believed to have been the Capitol.
"Today all of America wraps up and joins together, we close our arms to help you shoulder your pain and to carry your great, great sorrow," Mr Trump said.
"Your tears are not shed alone for they are shared grief with an entire nation.
"We grieve together for every mother and father, sister and brother, son and daughter, who was stolen from us at the twin towers, the Pentagon and here in this Pennsylvania field.
"We honour their sacrifices by pledging to never flinch in the face of evil and to do whatever it takes to keep America safe."
A total of 2,966 people died in the worst terror attack on US soil when planes were flown into New York's World Trade Center and the Pentagon in an atrocity planned by al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
Bin Laden was killed in May 2011 during a US military operation ordered by then-president Barack Obama.
Mr Trump said: "This field is now a monument to American defiance. This memorial is now a message to the world. America will never ever submit to tyranny.
"As long as this monument stands, as long as this memorial endures, brave patriots will rise up in America's hours of need and they too will fight back."
He added: "America's future is not written by its enemies, it is written by its heroes."
Other memorials which took place include a ceremony at the site where the twin towers once stood.
Hundreds of people, including survivors and families of the victims, gathered and remembered those who died by reading out every name.
There were also moments of silence to mark the times when each plane struck targets in New York, Washington DC and Pennsylvania, and when the two towers fell.