Remembering 9/11 Victims From Alexandria 20 Years Later

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 in a final act of heroism by passengers who realized their flight had been hijacked.

Nearly 3,000 Americans, including 16 from Alexandria, 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, our state remembers and mourns:

• Eddie Dillard, 54, of Alexandria, VA (American flight 77) [The National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial]
• Capt. Robert Edward Dolan, 43, Alexandria, VA (Pentagon) [The National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial]
• CDR William H. Donovan, USN, 37, of Alexandria, VA (Pentagon) [The National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial]
• Diane M. Hale-McKinzy, 38, of Alexandria, VA (Pentagon) [The National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial]
• Maj. Wallace Cole Hogan, 40, of Alexandria, VA (Pentagon) [The National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial]
• Bryan Creed Jack, 48, of Alexandria, VA (American flight 77) [The National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial]
• Steven D. "Jake" Jacoby, 43, Alexandria, VA (American flight 77) [The National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial]
• Maj. Stephen V. Long, 39, of Alexandria, VA (Pentagon) [The National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial]
• Terence M. Lynch, 49, of Alexandria, VA (Pentagon) [The National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial]
• LTC Dean E. Mattson, 57, of Alexandria, VA (Pentagon) [The National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial]
• Maj. Clifford L. Patterson, 33, of Alexandria, VA (Pentagon) [The National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial]
• CDR Robert Allan Schlegel, 38, of Alexandria, VA (Pentagon) [The National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial]
• LTC Gary F. Smith, 55, of Alexandria, VA (Pentagon) [The National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial]
• Norma Lang Steuerle, 54, of Alexandria, VA (American flight 77) [The National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial]
• Sandra Carol Taylor, 50, of Alexandria, VA (Pentagon) [The National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial]
• Meta L. Waller, 60, of Alexandria, VA (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.

The City of Alexandria's own remembrance ceremony will take place at Waterfront Park (1A Prince St.) from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Sept. 11. Alexandria firefighters and other local first responders had assisted with the response at the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001. The ceremony remembers those who died, were injured or otherwise affected, shows gratitude to those who responded, and honors those who gave their lives to save others. There will be remarks from Mayor Justin Wilson and representatives from Alexandria’s public safety agencies, including Fire and EMS Chief Corey Smedley, Acting Police Chief Don Hayes and Sheriff Dana Lawhorne as well as a wreath-laying and "Return to Quarters" bell-ringing ceremony. In the event of rain, the ceremony will happen inside City Hall Council Chamber, and masks are required indoors.

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.

“Throughout the ceremony, we will observe six moments of silence, acknowledging when each of the World Trade Center towers was struck and fell and the times corresponding to the attack on the Pentagon and the crash of Flight 93,” the 9/11 Memorial & Museum wrote on its website.

The annual “Tribute of Light,” which are lights pointed to the sky in the shape of the Twin Towers, will go on that night.

Most 9/11 victims were from either New York or New Jersey, where many who lived across the Hudson River from the World Trade Center recall the horror of watching the twin towers collapse from their homes in Hoboken and Jersey City.

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.