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 provides you a visual and audial remembrance of that fateful day when the world changed forever.
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…
(Jamie Squire /Allsport)
Designed by Detroit architect Minoru Yamasaki, the Twin Towers were famously disparaged by New York Times’ architectural critic Ada Louise Huxtable, who offered this 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 when death rained down from blue 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 last year by the TSA to commemorate the 17th anniversary of 9/11:
The following video captured the moment of impact when Islamic hijackers on American Airlines Flight 11 flew the plane into the World Trade Center’s North Tower (1 WTC) at 8:46am.
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 horror as Islamic hijackers flew the second plane, United Airlines Flight 175, into the South Tower of the World Trade Center (2 WTC) at 9:03am.
United Airlines Flight 175 approaches the World Trade Center. (AP Photo/ William Kratzke)
Islamic hijackers aboard United Airlines Flight 175 crash into the South Tower of the World Trade Center (2 WTC) at 9:03am. (AP Photo/Carmen Taylor/File)
A fireball explodes from the South Tower. (AP Photo/Carmen Taylor)
Smoke billows from the North Tower of the World Trade Center and flames and debris explode from the South Tower. (AP Photo/Chao Soi Cheong)
(AP Photo/Todd Hollis)
(AP Photo/ABC via APTN)
Plumes of smoke pour from the World Trade Center buildings. (AP Photo/Patrick Sison)
President Bush’s Chief of Staff Andy Card whispers into his ear: “A second plane has hit the second tower. America is under attack.” Bush was visiting Emma E. Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Fla., on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. (AP Photo/Doug Mills)
(Photo by Fabina Sbina/ Hugh Zareasky/Getty Images)
(Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
Debris fall from one of the burning twin towers (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Smoke pours from the World Trade Center after both planes strike. (Photo by Robert Giroux/Getty Images)
People watching the burning towers from the street below. (Getty Images)
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)
A person jumps from smoke and flames at the World Trade Center. (Robert Giroux/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)
A man jumps from the North Tower. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
A person falls headfirst from the North Tower. The controversy surrounding the publication of this image and the subsequent quest to identify the man depicted in it inspired a 2006 documentary called “9/11: The Falling Man.” You can watch it here. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
A woman cries watching the World Trade Center go up in flames. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
At 9:37am, the Islamic hijackers on American Airlines Flight 77 crashed it into the Pentagon. In this photo, a helicopter flies over the Pentagon crash site. (AP Photo/Heesoon Yim)
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)
Rescue workers look over damage at the Pentagon. (AP Photo/Kamneko Pajic)
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 announces the closing of the airport. (GERARD BURKHART/AFP/Getty Images)
At 9:58am, the South Tower of the World Trade Center begins to collapse. (AP Photo/Gulnara Samoilova)
The South Tower collapsing. The Millenium Hilton hotel is in foreground. (AP Photo/Amy Sancetta)
The South Tower collapses. (AP Photo/Jim Collins)
(Jose Jimenez/Primera Hora/Getty Images)
(AP Photo/Richard Drew)
The South Tower collapses. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
People flee the falling South Tower. (AP Photo/Amy Sancetta)
At 10:03am, United Airlines Flight 93 crashed into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. In this photo, officials examine the crater at the crash site. 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. (DAVID MAXWELL/AFP/Getty Images)
This photo of the North Tower of the World Trade Center shows the building 30 seconds before its collapse at 10:28am. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
People run from the collapse of one of the twin towers. (AP Photo/FILE/Suzanne Plunkett)
This is a view of the Manhattan skyline from Brooklyn after the World Trade Center towers collapsed. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)
Smoke rises from the New York skyline. (JOHN MOTTERN/AFP/Getty Images)
(AP Photo/Louis Lanzano)
(Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
Flags fly at half-staff at the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City, N.J. as a large cloud of smoke billows from the fire at the World Trade Center. (AP Photo/Daniel Hulshizer)
Thick smoke billows 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 stands as smoke rises from the World Trade Center. (AP Photo/Stuart Ramson)
The remains of the World Trade Center stands amid the debris. (AP Photo/Alexandre Fuchs)
People run from the debris of the collapsed towers. (AP Photo/Suzanne Plunkett)
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)
People flee the collapsing World Trade Center. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Dust swirls around south Manhattan moments after a tower of the World Trade Center collapsed. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Police escort a civilian from the scene. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
People walk in the street in the area where the World Trade Center buildings collapsed. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
People evacuate the area around the World Trade Center. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
(Getty Images)
(Photo by Jose Jimenez/Primera Hora/Getty Images)
A car sits on its side amid rubble at the World Trade Center. (Photo by Ron Agam/Getty Images)
Cars are covered in rubble after the collapse of one of towers. (DOUG KANTER/AFP/Getty Images)
The debris and wreckage. (Getty Images)
A man walks through the rubble. (DOUG KANTER/AFP/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)
A man helps evacuate a woman through rubble and debris. (STAN HONDA/AFP/Getty Images)
An unidentified New York City firefighter walks away from Ground Zero after the collapse of the Twin Towers. (Photo by 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)
People flee lower Manhattan across the Brooklyn Bridge. (AP Photo/Daniel Shanken)
(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 US 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, Neb. (AP Photo/Doug Mills)
An F-16 fighter flies just off the wing of Air Force One on a flight back to Washington. (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)
New York City firefighters take a rest from rescue operations. (Photo by 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)
(AP Photo/Doug Mills)
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.”
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)
(AP Photo/Kathy Willens)
(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