On the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, former President George W. Bush and former first lady Laura Bush will visit the Flight 93 memorial in Shanksville, Pa. Bush will deliver remarks commemorating the anniversary Saturday morning to families of Flight 93 victims and a limited number of guests due to COVID-19 safety protocols, according to a release.
The events will begin at 9:45 a.m. and will be livestreamed on the Flight 93 National Memorial Facebook page. Throughout the week before the observance, the memorial will host virtual learning sessions for high school and middle school educators with strategies for teaching about the 9/11 attacks in the classroom. Panelists with the North American Aerospace Defense Command and Federal Aviation Administration will take part in a discussion about the agencies’ response in 2001 on Thursday, Sept. 9. More information on events leading up to and including the anniversary can be found here.
Bush, along with former President Bill Clinton, spoke at the Flight 93 National Memorial one decade ago, where he praised the efforts of the 40 passengers and crew members aboard the plane who tried to fight back hijackers.
On the morning of 9/11, former Vice President Dick Cheney wrote in his memoirs that he authorized the U.S. military to “shoot down any plane attempting another attack,” the Washington Post wrote in 2020. The 9/11 Commission report, however, said the passengers on the plane had fought against the hijackers before the aircraft crashed into the Pennsylvania field.
