America remembers 9/11, more than two decades later

It's been 22 years since 9/11. It's a day of reflection for all of us, and a painful day for all too many.

The big picture: The photo above shows a test Sunday night of the annual Tribute in Light display above Lower Manhattan — first presented six months after 9/11, then every year since, from dusk to dawn on the night of Sept. 11.

• Americans around the country gathered Monday at memorials, firehouses, city halls and more to commemorate the anniversary of the deadliest terror attack on U.S. soil, AP reports.
• Commemorations were planned at the three attack sites — New York's Twin Towers, the Pentagon and Shanksville, Pa.

President Biden evoked a message of unity during a memorial ceremony in Alaska marking the anniversary of the attacks.

• "The crucible of 9/11, in the days and months that followed, we saw the stuff America is made of," he said to service members and their families on a military base in Anchorage on his way back from Asia.
• "Terrorism, including political and ideological violence, is the opposite of all we stand for as a nation," he said.
• "This day reminds us, we must never lose that sense of national unity. So let that be the common cause of our time. Let us honor September 11 by renewing our faith in one another."

Context: The attacks killed 2,977 people and began a U.S.-led Global War on Terror, which included the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Zoom in: At ground zero in Manhattan, Vice President Harris joined a commemoration on the 9/11 Memorial & Museum plaza on Monday morning.

Meanwhile, a series of moments of silence marked the unfolding tragedies of that day — beginning at 8:46am ET, when the hijacked Flight 11 crashed into floors 93-99 of the World Trade Center's North Tower.

Go deeper: What's changed 20 years after the Sept. 11 attacks

Editor's note: This story has been updated with comments from President Biden.