Watch: Second moment of silence in NYC

As we keep our eyes on the split screen here, you have on the right side of your screen, the ceremony in Lower Manhattan, where we are approaching the second moment of silence. Let's listen in. Joshua David Birnbaum. George John Bishop. Chris Romeo Bishundat. Jeffrey Donald Bittner. Albert Balewa Blackman, Jr. Christopher Joseph Blackwell. Carrie Rosetta Blagburn. Susan Lea Blair. Harry Blanding, Jr. Janice Lee Blaney. Craig Michael Blass. Rita Blau. Richard Middleton Blood, Jr. Michael Andrew Boccardi. John Paul Bocchi. Michael N. Bochino. Susan M. Bochino. Deora Frances Bodley. Bruce Douglas Boehm. Mary Catherine Murphy-Boffa. Nicholas Andrew Bogdan. Darren Christopher Bohan. Lawrence Francis Boisseau. Vincent M. Boland, Jr. Touri Hamzavi Bolourchi. Alan Bondarenko. Andre Bonheur, Jr. Colin Arthur Bonnett. Frank J. Bonomo. Yvonne Lucia Bonomo. Sean Booker, Sr. Kelly Ann Booms. Canfield D. Boone. Mary Jane Booth. Sherry Ann Bordeaux. Krystine Bordenabe. Jerry J. Borg.

And you are hearing once again, some young Americans with relatives who either passed or were affected on 9/11, reading and remembering many of those names. On the right-hand side, you see New York City here, the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. On the left-hand side, the ceremony at the Pentagon, where we will hear from the president shortly. Just to remember that we just had our second moment of silence. That was at 9:03. That is when Flight 175 hit the South Tower. And that crashed between floors 77 through 85. And two of those three emergency stairwells had become impassable, and so many of the people were trapped above that impact zone.

And the FDNY did everything they I could to get to those people, and that's why so many firefighters were in the building. But when you mentioned the second plane, what comes to mind is that moment of absolute confusion about what was coming next. When we look back, it's almost impossible to put yourself back into the mindset. But, Americans alive on that day did not know what was coming.

That's right. And I remember so vividly, watching after that second plane hit and immediately thinking to myself, oh, my goodness, we are under attack. We are at war. What we didn't know, those of us at home didn't know, was that there were other planes up in the air, that actually on Flight 77, passengers were calling family members and saying, we are on a hijacked plane. At the same time, those in the United States government, including the vice president of the United States, Dick Cheney, was in a bunker below the White House, and they were concerned that another plane was perhaps heading towards Washington. Whether it was the White House, the Capitol, they did not know. And so what happened at that moment was at Andrews Air Force Base, they immediately called up the pilots and said, "Launch." The first two planes, the two fighter jets that went up into the air, I have interviewed those two pilots. And it was then Lieutenant Colonel Sasseville and Heather Penney. They were under orders from the vice president of the United States to potentially take down Flight 77, a commercial airliner, to prevent an attack on Washington. It is one of the most chilling interviews I have done in my entire life, to think that-- and I said to them, you mean like a kamikaze attack, ram one from the front and ram one from the back to take down? They did not have to do that because of those heroes on Flight 77 that then drove that plane into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

One of the most difficult decisions from an American official.

The most unbelievable. And it was Flight 93, I should say. Excuse me, I just misspoke, Flight 77 that hit the second tower on the South-- the North Tower. Forgive me.