The solemn ceremony began at exactly 2:46 p.m. Officers, non-commissioned officers and enlisted soldiers of the Armored Brigade Combat Team, the command staff of the 11th Lubusz Armored Cavalry Division, and soldiers of the 23rd Silesian Artillery Regiment stood in formation.
Not by coincidence. At exactly that time in 2001, terrorists hijacked four airplanes, two of which crashed into the two World Trade Center towers in New York.
Another was intended to destroy the Pentagon building. The hijackers’ final target was supposed to be the U.S. Capitol in Washington; however, as a result of the struggle that passengers undertook against the hijackers, the fourth plane crashed in Pennsylvania.
The attack’s death toll was tragic. Nearly three thousand people died, including six Poles.
On the anniversary of these events, soldiers of the Black Division and the American ABCT, in silence and reflection, paid tribute and laid a bouquet of flowers beneath the flag of the United States.
It was undoubtedly the most tragic attack on the United States since the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 1941.