How was 9/11 remembered in 2015 and 2020 in Loveland, Ohio?

The above photo was taken at the Loveland Police and Fire Memorial in Historic Downtown on September 11, 2020. An event was hosted by the Loveland/Symmes Fire Department to honor all who died in a series of four coordinated terrorist attacks by the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda against the United States on the morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001.

Loveland, Ohio – The below LOVELAND MAGAZINE TV video is from the Loveland-Symmes Fire and the Loveland Police department’s annual 9-11 Remembrance at the Firefighter’s Memorial Park at Harrison and Railroad Avenues in downtown in 2015.

During the remembrance, plaques were unveiled to the honor and memory of Cincinnati Firefighter FAO Daryl Gordon and Cincinnati Police Officer Sonny Kim. Firefighter Gordon worked for a period of time for the Loveland/Symmes Fire Department. Officer Sonny Kim was a Symmes Township resident and business owner and his family was a part of the City of Loveland School District Family. Both died in the line of duty.

Loveland-Symmes Fire Department Chaplin, Bill Hounshell, spoke both of the men and women who died on September 11, 2011 when murderers flew planes into the Twin Towers in NY, the Pentagon, and crashed a plane in a field at Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and of Officer Kim and Firefighter Gordon.

Family members of Kim and Gordon were there to participate in the unveiling of the plaques.

The Loveland Magazine “9/11 Photo Essay” from 2020

Loveland celebrated the heroes who lost their lives during the 9/11 tragedy gathered around the Chief Candace M. Cook Firefighters Memorial, located on Harrison Avenue right along the Loveland Bike Trail in September 2020. (Photos by David Miller© 2020)

The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11,^[c] were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by the militant Islamic extremist network al-Qaeda^[3][4][5] against the United States. On the morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners scheduled to travel from the northeastern U.S. to California. The hijackers crashed the first two planes into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, and the third plane into the Pentagon (the headquarters of the American military) in Arlington, Virginia. The fourth plane was intended to hit a federal government building^[d] in Washington, D.C., but crashed in a field following a passenger revolt.^[6] The attacks killed nearly 3,000 people and instigated the global war on terror.

The first impact was of American Airlines Flight 11 at 8:46 am, into the North Tower of the World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan. At 9:03 am,^[e] the World Trade Center’s South Tower was hit by United Airlines Flight 175. Both 110-story towers collapsed within an hour and forty-two minutes, precipitating the collapse of other World Trade Center structures including 7 World Trade Center, and damaging nearby buildings. A third flight, American Airlines Flight 77, crashed into the west side of the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia, at 9:37 am, causing a partial collapse. The fourth and final flight, United Airlines Flight 93, flew in the direction of Washington, D.C. Alerted of the previous attacks, the plane’s passengers attempted to regain control, but the hijackers ultimately crashed the plane in a field in Stonycreek Township, Pennsylvania, near Shanksville, at 10:03 am. Investigators determined that Flight 93 was targeting either the U.S. Capitol or the White House.

Suspicion for the attacks quickly fell onto al-Qaeda. The United States formally responded by launching the war on terror and invading Afghanistan to depose the Taliban, which had not complied with U.S. demands to expel al-Qaeda from Afghanistan and extradite its leader, Osama bin Laden. The U.S.’s invocation of Article 5 of NATO—its only usage to date—called upon allies to fight al-Qaeda. As U.S. and NATO ground forces swept through Afghanistan, bin Laden fled to the White Mountains where he narrowly avoided capture by U.S.-led forces.^[11] Although bin Laden initially denied any involvement, in 2004 he formally claimed responsibility for the attacks.^[2] Al-Qaeda’s cited motivations included U.S. support of Israel, the presence of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia, and sanctions against Iraq. After evading capture for almost a decade, bin Laden was killed by the U.S. military on May 2, 2011.

The attacks resulted in 2,977 non-hijacker fatalities, over 25,000 injuries, and substantial long-term health consequences, in addition to at least $10 billion in infrastructure and property damage.^[12][13] It remains the deadliest terrorist attack in human history and the single deadliest incident for firefighters and law enforcement officers in U.S. history, with 340^[14] and 72 killed,^[15][16] respectively. The destruction of the World Trade Center and its environs seriously harmed the New York City economy and induced global market shocks. Many other countries strengthened anti-terrorism legislation and expanded their powers of law enforcement and intelligence agencies. Cleanup of the World Trade Center site (colloquially “Ground Zero”) took eight months and was completed in May 2002, while the Pentagon was repaired within a year. After delays in the design of a replacement complex, the One World Trade Center began construction in November 2006 and opened in November 2014.^[17][18] Memorials to the attacks include the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in New York City, the Pentagon Memorial in Arlington County, Virginia, and the Flight 93 National Memorial at the Pennsylvania crash site. (source Wikipedia)