Photos: New York Remembers 9/11 After 20 Years

NEW YORK CITY – A bell's toil marked the moment – exactly 20 years since the first plane flew into a World Trade Center tower and everything changed.

Standing beside the family members and other attendees who marked a moment of silence at Ground Zero Saturday were three presidents – Joe Biden, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, wearing blue ribbons and putting their hands over their hearts as a procession passed through the memorial.

And then the reading of the names started, a stark, painful reminder of how many fell that day.

Killing almost 3,000 people; the attacks began an era of war, fear, destruction and tragedy. The 20th anniversary comes during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, compounded with the recent fall of Kabul to the same political group that housed the 9/11 conspirators.

Further services were scheduled to be held at other sites in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and at the Pentagon in Washington D.C. Biden is expected to be at all.

An American flag placed along with a photo of the Twin Towers and the name Daniel P. Trant, a Cantor Fitzgerald bond trader that died during 9/11, before ceremonies to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks, Saturday, September 11, 2021, at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in New York.

Visitors browse the south pool as flowers and American flags rest among the names of the fallen at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, Thursday, September 9, 2021, in New York.

A visitor takes a photograph of flowers and American flags resting among the names of those who died at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, Thursday, September 9, 2021, in New York.

From left, former President Bill Clinton, former First Lady Hillary Clinton, former President Barack Obama, former First Lady Michelle Obama, President Joe Bien, First Lady Jill Biden, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Bloomberg's partner Diana Taylor, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) stand for the national anthem during the annual 9/11 Commemoration Ceremony at the National 9/11 Memorial and Museum on Saturday, September 11, 2021 in New York.

President Joe Biden, center, calls out as he is joined by, from left, former President Bill Clinton, former First Lady Hillary Clinton, former President Barack Obama, former First Lady Michelle Obama, First Lady Jill Biden and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, during the annual 9/11 Commemoration Ceremony at the National 9/11 Memorial and Museum on Saturday, September 11, 2021 in New York.

A person reacts as they attend a ceremony marking the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks at the National September 11 Memorial and Museum in New York, Saturday, September 11, 2021.

People react as they attend a ceremony marking the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks at the National September 11 Memorial and Museum in New York, Saturday, September 11, 2021.

A couple gathers with others outside the National September 11 Memorial and Museum as they view on their smartphone a ceremony marking the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Saturday, September 11, 2021, in New York.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.