Solemn faces, lowered flags, minutes of silences in the early hours of the morning marked the Sept. 11 ceremony at the Grapevine 9/11 Flight Crew Memorial commemorating 20 years since that fatal day in New York City.

Firefighters, police officers, airline personnel and friends and family gathered at the memorial to pay tribute to the civilians and first responders who lost their lives on Sept. 11, 2001, when two hijacked airplanes were flown into the World Trade Center towers in New York City. A third plane was flown into the Pentagon and a fourth crashed into an empty field in Pennsylvania.

“[Today] we pause and reflect and remember, and we will never forget,” said Grapevine Fire Chief Darrell Brown.

Beverley Bass, the first female captain at American Airlines, recalls having to make an emergency landing of her flight from Paris to Dallas in Canada that fateful day because U.S. airspace was closed.

“It was 20 years ago this morning, that our nation stood in shock,” Bass said. “It is a great honor to be with you on this day, a day that we all know is still very difficult. It is a day that represents reflection, pain, scars, and more importantly, healing.”


The event was live-streamed on the city's Facebook page. A World War II D-Day aircraft flyover on Main Street followed. A 21-foot-by-21-foot American flag quilt featuring the faces of nearly 2,700 victims of 9/11 is currently suspended inside the Harvest Hall through Sept. 30.