Remembering 9/11 Victims From Falls Church 20 Years Later

FALLS CHURCH, VA — Anyone older than 25 in Northern Virginia likely remembers where they were on 9/11.

Americans felt a collective trauma as first one and then another plane flew into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001. As the truth dawned on people watching from their TVs that America was under attack, another plane took aim at the Pentagon. A fourth was brought down in a field in Pennsylvania.

Nearly 3,000 Americans, including two from Falls Church, were killed in the suicide attacks carried out by 19 militants associated with the Islamic extremist group Al-Qaeda.

On the 20th anniversary of the attacks, Virginia remembers and mourns:

Mary Jane "MJ" Booth, 64, of Falls Church (American Flight 77) [The National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial]

Brenda C. Gibson, 59, of Falls Church (Pentagon) [The National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial]

All 9/11 victims will be remembered at memorial services planned across the nation on Sept. 11 to mark the 20th anniversary of the attacks.

Fairfax County's 9/11 ceremony will take place at the Bailey's Crossroads Volunteer Fire Department, 3601 Firehouse Lane, Falls Church, at 2 p.m. on Sept. 11. First responders from Fairfax County's Fire Station 10 had responded to the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.

At the 9/11 memorial in Lower Manhattan, New York — an area known for years after the attacks as "Ground Zero" — the names of the fallen will be read aloud.

The Pentagon Memorial, which honors the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001 attack on the Pentagon, recently finished renovations, according to the Department of Defense. It remains temporarily closed to visitors, effective Aug. 2, due to increasing COVID-19 infections. The Pentagon Memorial Fund does not have an estimated reopening date.

More than 2,700 people died at the World Trade Center alone on 9/11, including the passengers of American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175. Another 184 were killed when American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into The Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and 44 died on United Airlines Flight 93 near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.