The whole world experienced the attacks of September 11, 2001, in real time. Videos, photos, and audio captured the horror inflicted by Islamic jihadists and the heroism displayed by ordinary Americans.
In our effort to never forget, Breitbart News offers you this visual and audial remembrance of that fateful day when the world changed forever.
We will always remember.
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From the time of its opening in 1973 to that fatal day in September 2001, the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center dominated the skyline of Lower Manhattan’s Financial District, as seen in this photo taken on September 5, 2001, just six days before the Towers fell:
Designed by Detroit architect Minoru Yamasaki, the Twin Towers were famously disparaged by New York Times’ architectural critic Ada Louise Huxtable, who offered this eerie and unintentionally prescient prediction in 1966: “The trade center towers could be the start of a new skyscraper age or the biggest tombstones in the world.”
Those words were long forgotten on that bright September morning before death rained down from cloudless skies.
A view from the Hudson River of Lower Manhattan’s Financial District, including the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers. (Getty Images)
Betty Ong, the flight attendant aboard American Airlines Flight 11, was the first person to notify authorities about the Islamic hijackers.
The audio of Ong’s call to the American Airlines emergency number was included in this audio/video montage released by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) in 2018 to commemorate the 17th anniversary of 9/11:
The following video captured the moment of impact when Islamic hijackers flew American Airlines Flight 11 into the World Trade Center’s North Tower (1 WTC) at 8:46 a.m.
The first images of the burning North Tower quickly flashed across television sets.
This video shows the first five minutes of cable news coverage:
Four minutes after the first plane hit the World Trade Center, Christopher Hanley, 35, called 911 from the 106th floor of the North Tower, where he was attending a conference at the restaurant Windows on the World that morning.
This is the audio of his 911 call:
The whole world watched in stunned horror as a second plane, United Airlines Flight 175, flew into the South Tower of the World Trade Center (2 WTC) at 9:03 a.m.
The second plane removed any doubt that this was a terror attack, not a pilot error, and America was indeed at war.
This video shows the ABC News coverage the moment the second plane struck:
United Airlines Flight 175 flew low over Manhattan on a direct path for the World Trade Center. (AP Photo/ William Kratzke)
Islamic hijackers aboard United Airlines Flight 175 crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center (2 WTC) at 9:03 a.m. (AP Photo/Carmen Taylor/File)
Smoke billowed from the North Tower of the World Trade Center and flames and debris exploded from the South Tower. (AP Photo/Chao Soi Cheong)
President George W. Bush was visiting an elementary school in Sarasota, Florida.
He was informed about the attacks when his chief of staff, Andy Card, whispered in his ear: “A second plane has hit the second tower. America is under attack.”
President Bush’s Chief of Staff Andy Card whispered in his ear: “A second plane has hit the second tower. America is under attack.” Bush was visiting Emma E. Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Florida, that morning. (AP Photo/Doug Mills)
People hang out of broken windows of the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Richard Pecorella has spent years searching for an image he says will bring him peace: a photograph that proves his fiancee, whom he believes could be in this photo, jumped to her death from the burning World Trade Center. (AP Photo/Amy Sancetta)
A man leaps to his death from a fire and smoke filled Tower One of the World Trade Center. (Jose Jimenez/Primera Hora/Getty Images)
People in front of New York’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral react with horror as they look down Fifth Ave towards the World Trade Center towers. (AP Photo/Marty Lederhandler)
The controversy surrounding the publication of the image below of a man falling from the North Tower, and the subsequent quest to identify the man depicted in this photo, inspired a 2006 documentary called 9/11: The Falling Man. You can watch it here.
At 9:37 a.m., the Islamic hijackers on board American Airlines Flight 77 crashed it into the Pentagon.
A helicopter flies over the burning Pentagon. The Washington Monument can be seen at right, through the smoke. The White House roof is visible in the trees of Washington at left. (AP Photo/Tom Horan)
Vehicles are seen traveling on Interstate 395, leaving Washington, in front of the Pentagon. (AP Photo/Tom Horan)
At 9:45am, the FAA ordered the United States airspace shut down. No civilian flight was allowed to take off and all aircraft in the air were ordered to land at the nearest airport. In this photo a screen at the American Airlines terminal at Los Angeles International Airport shows that all flights have been canceled as the airport is shutdown. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)
A board at the Los Angeles Airport announced the closing of the airport. (GERARD BURKHART/AFP/Getty Images)
The South Tower of the World Trade Center began to collapse at 9:58 a.m.
The South Tower of the World Trade Center began to collapse at 9:58 a.m. (AP Photo/Gulnara Samoilova)
The Millenium Hilton hotel is seen in the foreground of this photo showing the South Tower collapsing. (AP Photo/Amy Sancetta)
At 10:03 a.m., United Airlines Flight 93 crashed into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Were it not for the heroism of the passengers who stormed the cockpit, the Islamic hijackers would have crashed the plane into either the United States Capitol dome or the White House.
Officials examine the crater at the crash site where United Airlines Flight 93 crashed into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. (DAVID MAXWELL/AFP/Getty Images)
At 10:28 a.m., the North Tower of the World Trade Center collapsed.
This photo of the North Tower of the World Trade Center shows the building 30 seconds before its collapse at 10:28 a.m. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
This is a view of the Manhattan skyline from Brooklyn after the World Trade Center towers collapsed. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)
Flags flew at half-staff at the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City, New Jersey, as a large cloud of smoke billowed from the fire at the World Trade Center. (AP Photo/Daniel Hulshizer)
Thick smoke billowed into the sky from the area behind the Statue of Liberty where the World Trade Center towers stood. (AP Photo/Daniel Hulshizer)
The Statue of Liberty guarded the harbor as smoke engulfed lower Manhattan’s World Trade Center. (AP Photo/Stuart Ramson)
Pedestrians on Beekman St. flee the area of the collapsed World Trade Center. (AP Photo/Amy Sancetta,FILE)
Survivors make their way through smoke, dust and debris on Fulton St., about a block from the collapsed towers. (AP Photo/Gulnara Samoilova,FILE)
Marcy Borders covered in dust as she takes refuge in an office building after one of the World Trade Center towers collapsed in New York. Borders was caught outside on the street as the cloud of smoke and dust enveloped the area. (STAN HONDA/AFP/Getty Images)
A police officer helps a woman to a bus after she fled the area near the World Trade Center towers. (STAN HONDA/AFP/Getty Images)
Dust swirls around south Manhattan moments after a tower of the World Trade Center collapsed. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
People walk in the street in the area where the World Trade Center buildings collapsed. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)
Edward Fine covering his mouth as he walks through the debris after the collapse of one of the World Trade Center Towers. Fine was on the 78th floor of 1 World Trade Center when it was hit. (STAN HONDA/AFP/Getty Images)
An unidentified New York City firefighter walks away from Ground Zero after the collapse of the Twin Towers. (Anthony Correia/Getty Images)
People cover their faces as they move across the Brooklyn Bridge out of the smoke and dust in Manhattan. (AP Photo/Daniel Shanken)
Pedestrians crossing the Brooklyn Bridge as they flee Manhattan after the collapse of the South Tower. (DOUG KANTER/AFP/Getty Images)
Traffic in Washington, DC, gets gridlocked, as U.S. government workers are released and the city is shutdown following the attacks. (TIM SLOAN/AFP/Getty Images)
President Bush watches television as he talks on the phone with New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and New York Gov. George Pataki aboard Air Force One. (AP Photo/Doug Mills)
President Bush talks with Chief of Staff Andrew Card aboard Air Force One during a flight to Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha, Nebraska. (AP Photo/Doug Mills)
An F-16 fighter flies just off the wing of Air Force One on a flight back to Washington, DC. (DOUG MILLS/AFP/Getty Images)
A trader outside the London Stock Exchange reads the evening paper with “Terror war on USA” on the front page. (NICOLAS ASFOURI/AFP/Getty Images)
Newspaper vendor Carlos Mercado sells the “Extra” edition of the Chicago Sun-Times. (SCOTT OLSON/AFP/Getty Images)
Deputy U.S. marshal Dominic Guadagnoli helps a women after she was injured in the attack on the World Trade Center. (AP Photo/Gulnara Samoilova)
A shell of what was once part of the facade of one of the Twin Towers rises above the rubble that remains after both towers collapsed. (AP Photo/Shawn Baldwin)
New York City firefighters rest during rescue operations at the World Trade Center. (Ron Agam/Getty Images)
New York City firefighters’ search and rescue efforts at the World Trade Center. (Ron Agam/Getty Images)
An unidentified New York City firefighter walks away from Ground Zero after the collapse of the Twin Towers. (Anthony Correia/Getty Images)
Rescue workers make their way through the rubble of the World Trade Center. (DOUG KANTER/AFP/Getty Images)
An exhausted police officer rests on a car covered in dust near the World Trade Center. (STAN HONDA/AFP/Getty Images)
Late afternoon, smoke rises in the distance before the Long Island and the Throgs Neck Bridge between the Bronx and Queens, NY, following the destruction of the Twin Towers. (MATT CAMPBELL/AFP/Getty Images)
Smoke billows from where the World Trade Center Twin Towers once stood, as evening descends on the city. (Chris Hondros/Getty Images)
Patricia Petrowitz falls to her knees in prayer in Seattle’s St. James Cathedral during a prayer service on September 11, 2001. The Cathedral was filled to standing room only. (Tim Matsui/Getty Images)
Kellog Metcalf closes his eyes during the prayer service in Seattle’s St. James Cathedral. (Tim Matsui/Getty Images)
From front left: Rep. Dick Armey, R-Texas, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., Senate Minority Leader, Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., Senate Majority Leader, House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., Rep. Richard Gephardt, House Minority Leader, Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., and other Congressional members address the public on the evening of September 11, 2001. (AP Photo/Kenneth Lambert)
Democrats and Republicans stood shoulder to shoulder on the steps of the Capitol that evening in a show of national unity.
At the end of their remarks, they sang “God Bless America.”
President George W. Bush walks down the steps of Air Force One as he arrives at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland. (DOUG MILLS/AFP/Getty Images)
President Bush addressed the nation from the Oval Office that evening.
“Today, our nation saw evil — the very worst of human nature,” he said. “And we responded with the best of America.”
As the nation prayed, the search for survivors began…
Volunteers donate blood at Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, Illinois, at a blood donation station set up to help victims of the World Trade Center attack. Sadly, the donations were largely unnecessary because there were so few survivors rescued from the collapsed towers. (Tim Boyle/Getty Images)
In the days that followed, people returned to Ground Zero with photos of their loved ones, searching for any news of their whereabouts. In this September 13, 2001 photograph, a woman poses with a picture of a missing loved one who was last seen at the World Trade Center.(AP Photo/Kathy Willens)
In this September 15, 2001, photograph, a woman poses with a picture of a missing loved one who was last seen at the World Trade Center. (AP Photo/Charlie Krupa)
A woman is comforted as she holds a picture of a missing loved one who was last seen at the World Trade Center. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)
A woman looks at missing person posters of victims from the World Trade Center attacks. (AP Photo/Robert Spencer)
New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani became America’s mayor during 9/11. In this photo, he consoles Anita Deblase, of New York, whose son, James Deblase, 44, was missing, at the site of the World Trade Center disaster. “He’s at the bottom of the rubble,” she said. James Deblase worked for Cantor Fitzgerald. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
Military and fire personnel get set to unfurl a large American flag on the roof of the Pentagon on September 12, 2001. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
Firefighters unfurl an American flag from the roof of the Pentagon on September 12, 2001. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)
A makeshift altar, constructed for a worship service, overlooks the crash site of United Airlines Flight 93 on September 16, 2001, in Shanksville, PA. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
An American flag is posted in the rubble of the World Trade Center on September 13, 2001. (AP Photo/Beth A. Keiser)
On September 14, 2001, President Bush visited the first responders and rescue workers at Ground Zero and delivered an impromptu speech that captured the sentiment of the country:
The massive clean-up efforts at Ground Zero spanned months…
Among the rubble, a cast iron cross was found rising out of the destruction at the World Trade Center. The cross fell intact from Tower One into nearby Building Six on September 11.
On Thursday, Oct. 4, 2001, rescue and construction workers gathered around Father Brian Jordan, second from left, who blessed the cross of steel beams found amidst the rubble of the World Trade Center by a laborer two days after the collapse of the Twin Towers. (AP Photo/Pool, Kathy Willens)
One of the damaged connecting pedestrian walkways of the World Trade Center complex still stands at Ground Zero in New York on September 19, 2001. (AP Photo/Cameron Bloch)
A New York Fire Department Chief, firefighters from various municipalities, and other rescue workers take a break Thursday, September 13, 2001, from the rescue/recovery effort at the World Trade Center site. (Andrea Booher, FEMA via AP)
A worker examines a beam of tower one of the World Trade Center, on November 2, 2001, as the cleanup and recovery effort continues at ground zero in New York. (AP Photo/Stephen Chernin)
In the weeks and months that followed, we buried our dead…
The coffin of New York Fire Department Chaplain Rev. Mychal Judge is carried from St. Francis of Assisi Church on September 15, 2001, following his funeral mass in New York City. Judge, who was a Franciscan friar, died administering last rites to a fallen fire fighter in the collapse of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. (Darren McCollester/Getty Images)
Firefighter Tony James cries while attending the funeral mass for New York Fire Department Chaplain Rev. Mychal Judge. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Firefighters carry the flag-covered casket of fellow fireman Lt. Dennis Mojica during a funeral mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral on September 21, 2001, in New York City. Mojica, who was with Rescue Company 1, was one of the 343 firefighters who lost their lives in the World Trade Center attack. (Joe Raedle/Gettyimages)
Firefighters stand atop a fire engine with the flag draped casket of fellow fireman Lt. Dennis Mojica following his funeral at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. (Joe Raedle/Gettyimages)
New York City firefighters stand at attention as the casket of FDNY Capt. Terence Hatton is placed on a fire engine outside St. Patrick’s Cathedral on October 4, 2001, in New York City. Hatton was one of the 343 New York firefighters killed in the line of duty on September 11, 2001. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
A joint service honor guard marches through the colonnade at Arlington National Cemetery with a casket containing the unidentified remains of victims of the terrorist attack on the Pentagon, following a funeral ceremony on September 12, 2002. Of the 184 who died in the Pentagon attack, 64 have been buried at Arlington. (MIKE THEILER/AFP via Getty Images)
In the years that followed, we sought justice…
Nearly two years after the attacks, the 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed was captured in Pakistan on March 1, 2003.
His death penalty trial by military jury is set to start on January 11, 2021, at Camp Justice, Guantanamo Bay.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) handout photos of suspected al Qaeda commander Khalid Sheikh Mohammed were marked with the word “Located” after his arrest on March 1, 2003 in Pakistan. (FBI/Getty Images)
And finally, ten years after the attacks, al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was brought to justice.
On May 2, 2011, President Barrack Obama announced to the nation that bin Laden was killed by a team of U.S. Navy SEALs during a raid on his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
A large, jubilant crowd at the corner of Church and Vesey Streets, adjacent to Ground Zero, reacts to the news of Osama bin Laden’s death on May 2, 2011, in New York. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow)
A crowd in New York’s Times Square reacts to the news of Osama bin Laden’s death. (AP Photo/Tina Fineberg)
And over the years, the country rebuilt, the memorials arose, and each year we remember…
Father Brian Jordan blesses the Ground Zero Cross at ceremony with former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani in attendance, on July 23, 2011, before the Cross was moved to its permanent home at the 9/11 Memorial Museum in New York City. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)
Visitors to the Flight 93 National Memorial pause at The Wall of Names, containing the names of the 40 passengers and crew who died in the crash of United Flight 93 following a memorial service in Shanksville, PA, on September 11, 2012. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
President Barack Obama delivered an address at the dedication ceremony at the National September 11 Memorial Museum in New York on May 15, 2014. (JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images)
The South reflecting pool is viewed at the Ground Zero memorial site during the dedication ceremony of the National September 11 Memorial Museum on May 15, 2014. The museum spans seven stories, mostly underground, and contains artifacts from the attack on the World Trade Center Towers on September 11, 2001, that include the 80 ft. high tridents, the Ground Zero Cross, the destroyed remains of Company 21’s New York Fire Department Engine, as well as smaller items such as a letter that fell from a hijacked plane and posters of missing loved ones projected onto the wall of the museum. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
On May 15, 2014, a rose is placed on a name engraved along the South reflecting pool at the Ground Zero memorial site during the dedication ceremony. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
A quote from Virgil fills a wall of the museum prior to the dedication ceremony at the National September 11 Memorial Museum on May 15, 2014. (John Munson-Pool/Getty Images)
On May 21, 2015, the National 9/11 Flag is displayed for the first time at the National September 11 Memorial Museum. The flag was recovered nearly destroyed from Ground Zero and was restored in “stitching ceremonies” held across the country. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
On October 29, 2014, One Word Trade Center as seen from the 9/11 Memorial grounds where the fallen towers once stood. (Diane Bondareff/Invision/AP Images)
On September 11, 2016, people visit the Pentagon’s 9/11 Memorial Park in Arlington, Virginia. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
On September 9, 2018, people attend the dedication stand around the 93-foot tall Tower of Voices at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where the tower contains 40 wind chimes representing the 40 people that perished in the crash of Flight 93. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)
The Tower of Voices display at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, on September 10, 2018, the day before thousands of victims’ relatives, survivors, rescuers, and others joined President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump for a commemoration ceremony on the 17th anniversary of 9/11. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
Thousands of flags representing each of the 9/11 terrorist attack victims wave on a lawn overlooking the Pacific at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California, on September 8, 2019, in a display that is now an annual tradition commemorating the fallen. (AP Photo/John Antczak)
People walk by a memorial to fallen firefighters near the World Trade Center Memorial in lower Manhattan on September 9, 2019. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
An exact replica of the wall of the compound that Osama bin Laden was hiding in is displayed at the new exhibition “Revealed: The Hunt for Bin Laden” at the 9/11 Memorial Museum on November 7, 2019, in New York City. The exhibition features declassified documents, testimony, and objects to tell the story of the decade long hunt and capture of Bin Laden. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
A poster and picture used to identify Osama Bin Laden is displayed at the new exhibition “Revealed: The Hunt for Bin Laden at the 9/11 Memorial Museum” on November 7, 2019 in New York City. The exhibition uses both digital and physical displays to show visitors the complexity of the search and eventual raid on Bin Laden’s Pakistani compound that led to his death. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
The Tribute in Light to commemorate the 18th anniversary of 9/11 is seen next to the One World Trade Center on September 10, 2019, in New York City. (Johannes EISELE / AFP/Getty Images)
Firefighters and police participate in the start of ceremonies at the National September 11 Memorial on September 11, 2019, in New York City. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Alexandra Hamatie, whose cousin Robert Horohoe was killed in the 9/11 attacks, pauses at the National September 11 Memorial during a morning commemoration ceremony on September 11, 2019, in New York City. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
People gather at one of the pools at the National September 11 Memorial following a morning commemoration ceremony on September 11, 2019, in New York City. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA), House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) take part in a moment of silence on September 11, 2019, on the Capitol Steps with members of the House of Representatives during an observance and campus wide moment of silence for the National Day of Service and Remembrance honoring victims of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. (Zach Gibson/Getty Images)
President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump, with U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and his wife Leah Esper, lay a wreath during a ceremony marking the 18th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, on September 11, 2019, at the Pentagon in Washington, DC. (NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty Images)
President Donald Trump presents the Presidential Citizens Medal to Susan Rescorla, the wife of Richard Cyril Rescorla, during an East Room event at the White House on November 7, 2019. Richard Cyril Rescorla, the former director of security for Morgan Stanley, was awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal posthumously for his implementation of evacuation plans that help to save thousands of lives during the 9/11 terror attack on the World Trade Center. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo joins his Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America in a ceremony for the resumption of construction on the new Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and National Shrine at the World Trade Center on August 3, 2020, in New York City. On September 11, 2001, St. Nicholas was the only other building besides the Twin Towers to be completely destroyed during the terrorist attack. Saint Nicholas Church, which began services in 1922, was named after Agios Nikolaos, the Patron Saint of Sailors. Before the Covid-19 outbreak halted all non-essential projects statewide for months, construction at the church was set to resume in the spring. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images).
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo joins his Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America in a ceremony for the resumption of construction on the new Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and National Shrine at the World Trade Center on August 3, 2020, in New York City. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
(Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
A piper plays in front of the boulder that marks the impact site of Flight 93 at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, PA, on Thursday, Sept. 10, 2020, as the nation prepares to mark the 19th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
The 9/11 Tribute in Light shines above the lower Manhattan skyline on September 10, 2020, in New York City. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)