The event was organized by first responders who felt it was important to mark the solemn anniversary and pay respect to their fellow emergency workers who responded on that fateful day.
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"We had a conversation at a chief's meeting, and we thought -- you know what -- this is something that we need to do, and it's really important," said Jim Groves, Director of the Office of Emergency Services in Durham County. "We've got people working with us, that weren't even born or were too young to remember it and the event had a huge impact on a lot of our lives and a lot of our careers.
"So, we thought it was really important to pull folks together to have some remembrance ceremony just to one let us pay our respects," Groves added.
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Speakers and local government leaders will reflect on the attacks by Islamic terrorists that changed America, and the ceremony will pause for a moment of silence at 8:46 a.m. -- the time when the first plane struck the World Trade Center in New York City.
The Durham Remembers event is open to the public.
FULL SPECIAL: Remembering 9/11 Twenty Years Later
FULL SPECIAL: Remembering 9/11 Twenty Years Later