Today, we honor the brave Americans who responded to the terror of September 11 with extraordinary courage and sacrifice. In our darkest hour—when terrorists believed they could bring our country to its knees—these Americans proved that our nation’s indomitable spirit would prevail.
In the moments, days, and years following the September 11 attacks, heroes were forged. Firefighters, police officers, and rescue workers ran into the inferno of jet fuel and debris at Ground Zero, risking their own lives to save the lives of others. Soldiers and civilians repeatedly rushed into the fiery breach at the Pentagon to save their colleagues. The patriotic passengers of Flight 93 made the ultimate sacrifice to prevent their plane from being used to save even more innocent souls. And in cities, rural towns, suburbs, and tribal communities, hundreds of thousands of Americans rose up—ready to serve our nation in uniform.
We owe these patriots of the 9/11 generation a debt of gratitude that we can never fully repay. They were deployed to Afghanistan to ensure that the United States would not be attacked again. They served in Iraq and other war zones to defend our democracy and deny terrorists safe haven. They followed Osama bin Laden to the ends of the earth and ultimately sent him to the gates of hell. And two years ago, we made sure his second-in-command suffered the same fate.
The First Lady and I hold in our hearts all those whose loved ones gave their final, full devotion in this fight. And we will never stop working to fulfill our country’s sacred obligation to them and to all service members and veteran families, caregivers and survivors: to adequately prepare and equip those we send into harm’s way, and to care for them and their families when they return home – and when they don’t.
Over the last 23 years, we have rebuilt what was destroyed. What was threatened, we have fortified. What was attacked – the indomitable American spirit – has prevailed. That is who we are. That is the soul of our nation. There is nothing we cannot accomplish if we wholeheartedly defend what makes us unique in the world: our democracy. That is what the heroes and patriots of 9/11 did. And that is what all of us must continue to do today.
To volunteer your time on this day, visit americorps.gov/911-day to find opportunities to volunteer in your community.
By a joint resolution of December 18, 2001 (Law 107-89), Congress declared September 11 of each year as “Patriot Day,” and by Law 111-13 of April 21, 2009, Congress called for the observance of September 11 as an annually recognized “National Day of Service and Remembrance.”
THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim September 11, 2024, as Patriot Day and National Day of Service and Remembrance. I request all departments, agencies, and entities of the United States to fly the United States flag at half-mast on Patriot Day and National Day of Service and Remembrance to commemorate the lives of those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001. I invite the Governors of the United States and its territories, as well as interested organizations and individuals, to join in this commemoration. I call on the people of the United States to participate in the community service to remember our Nation’s departed, to observe this day with appropriate ceremonies and activities, including memorial services, and to observe a moment of silence beginning at 8:46 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time to remember the innocent victims who lost their lives in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I do sign this instrument this tenth day of September, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-four, and in the year two hundred and forty-nine of the Independence of the United States of America.
JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.
