Memorials to 9/11

Led by President Barack Obama, Americans commemorated the 13th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on Thursday by observing moments of silence for the thousands killed that day at New York City's World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field.

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In Pic: President Barack Obama listens to to proceedings during a ceremony marking the 13th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks at the Pentagon in Washington September 11, 2014. Source: Reuters

In what has become an annual ritual, relatives began slowly reciting the nearly 3,000 names of the victims at a ceremony in lower Manhattan, from Gordon Aamoth Jr. to Igor Zukelman.

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In Pics: A woman grieves at her husband's inscribed name at the edge of the North Pool during memorial observances on the 13th anniversary of the 911 attacks at the site of the World Trade Center in New York, September 11, 2014. Source: Reuters

Readers would occasionally pause as a silver bell was rung to mark the exact times when each of the four planes hijacked by al Qaeda militants crashed at the three sites and when each of the World Trade Center's twin towers collapsed. With each bell, a moment of silence was observed.

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In Pic: A man watches the "Tribute in Light" illuminated next to the Statue of Liberty and One World Trade Center during events marking the 13th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

Obama spoke at the Pentagon during a private ceremony for relatives of the 184 people killed in the attack on the U.S. Department of Defense headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, several miles from the White House.

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In Pic: President Barack Obama pauses during a moment of silence at the Pentagon in remembrance of those who lost their lives in the 9/11 attacks, in Washington September 11, 2014.?

He laid a wreath of white lilies and chrysanthemums, and kept his hand on his heart as "Taps" played.

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In Pic: A photograph and message for fallen New York City Firefighter Scott A Larson along with flowers are seen left on his inscribed name at the edge of the north pool during memorial observances held at the site of the World Trade Center in New York, September 11, 2014.?

"Thirteen years after small, hateful minds conspired to break us, America stands tall and America stands proud," Obama said.

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In Pic: A woman who did not wish to be identified pauses at the edge of the North Pool during memorial observances on the 13th anniversary of the 911 attacks at the site of the World Trade Center in New York, September 11, 2014.

In New York, the voice of Tom Monahan, a 54-year-old man with salt-and-pepper hair and broad shoulders, cracked when he talked about the brother and cousin he lost in the attack.

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In Pic: A firefighter memorial bagpiper visits the 9/11 Empty Sky memorial during the 13th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, in Jersey City, New Jersey, September 11, 2014.?

"Everything is fine until you get here," he said before waving his hands as if to signal he could not talk anymore. He emerged from the security checkpoints an hour later and showed a reporter a message he had sent on his cell phone to his sister. "9-12 couldn't come soon enough," it said.

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In Pic: A woman places a flower in the inscribed names along the edge of the North Pool during memorial observances held at the site of the World Trade Center in New York, September 11, 2014.?

Beyond the checkpoints, an invitation-only crowd stood beneath an overcast sky in the memorial plaza at the heart of the new World Trade Center, which is nearing completion in lower Manhattan.

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In PIc: Members of the DeBlase family make a rubbing of their lost loved one James V. DeBlase during memorial observances held at the site of the World Trade Center in New York, September 11, 2014.?

Some of those in attendance were dressed in military uniform, others wore T-shirts and sneakers.

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In Pic: A family stands at the edge of the North Pool during memorial observances on the 13th anniversary of the 911 attacks at the site of the World Trade Center in New York, September 11, 2014.