This Friday, Virginians will be able to set aside time virtually to honor and remember the almost 3,000 people who died and thousands injured on 9/11.
For Virginians, the attack on the Pentagon was the first and deadliest foreign attack on Washington D.C. since the British burned the U.S. Capitol in 1812. “So many folks that worked in the Pentagon and were killed on that day were Virginians, lived in Virginia,” said Dr. Clay Mountcastle, director of the Virginia War Memorial.
“It is important in understanding the entirety of the American military experience, not only honoring those who have served and died in our wars, but trying to get people to understand why those wars happened in the first place,” Mountcastle said.
Because of the pandemic, the Patriot Day Ceremonies will be streamed tonight at 7 p.m. on the Virginia War Memorial’s Facebook page and on its website. A film will also be debuted about Virginia veterans and their families who lived through 9-11.
*CORRECTION: This article gave an incorrect date of Wednesday. It has been updated.