Will County Executive Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant’s speech during the 20th Anniversary Ceremony of September 11, 2001.

“All of us can remember where we were on September 11, 2001. When the news first broke about two airplanes hitting the World Trade Center Towers. a third airplane hitting the Pentagon in Washington DC, and a fourth aircraft crashing in rural Pennsylvania.

This was one of the most sobering times in our Nations’s history, and one we will remember for the rest of our lives. We are gathered today to mark the 20th anniversary of the 9-11 attack on our country. To pay tribute to the nearly 3,000 people who died that day and of those more than 400 first responders. These men and women paid the ultimate price to protect the public safety. They are husbands, wives, daughters, sons, aunts, uncles, and friends, who were taken too soon. 

Today is an opportunity for us to reflect on their lives, but it is also a day to remind ourselves how our country unified to get through this devastation. Today we need this reminder more than ever”.