9/11: 25 Indelible Pictures

[Kristin Moore]

Ground Zero

Photograph by Alex Fuchs, AFP/Getty Images

The smoldering remains of the World Trade Center lie at the center of what would soon be dubbed ground zero. As the tenth anniversary of the attacks approaches this week, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the term should now be phased out.

"We will never forget the devastation of the area that came to be known as ground zero. Never. But the time has come to call those 16 acres [6.5 hectares] what they are: The World Trade Center and the National September 11 Memorial and Museum," he said during a recent speech hailing rebuilding efforts.

Published September 8, 2011

[Kristin Moore]

Aiding the Injured

Photograph by Todd Maisel, NY Daily News via Getty Images

Todd Heaney and Frankie DiLeo of Engine 209 help a fellow firefighter who was injured at the World Trade Center during 9/11.

"The firefighter stories are so remarkable," Chanin said. "I can't tell you how many testimonies we've had from survivors of the buildings about their impressions of the firefighters as they were escaping down the stairways and the firefighters were going up those same stairs—as far as the 80th floor in one case.

"It's absolutely incredible how they conducted themselves in the midst of all this."

Published September 8, 2011

[Kristin Moore]

Skyline, Forever Changed

Photograph by Steffan Kaplan, New York Times via Redux

The buildings of lower Manhattan are engulfed in clouds of smoke and debris as seen from Jersey City across the Hudson River shortly after the second tower collapsed on 9/11.

Published September 8, 2011

[Kristin Moore]

After the Crash

Photograph by Tim Shaffer, Reuters

Smoke rises behind investigators on September 12 as they comb the Pennsylvania field where United Airlines Flight 93 crashed.

The plane was among four hijacked as part of the 9/11 plot, but interference from passengers forced the aircraft to crash in rural Shanksville.

Published September 8, 2011

[Kristin Moore]

9/11 Rescuers

Photograph by Mario Tama, Getty Images

An injured rescue worker is pulled from the rubble of the World Trade Center on September 13, 2001.

In all, 343 firefighters and paramedics were killed on 9/11, as were 23 New York City police officers and 37 Port Authority police officers.

Published September 8, 2011

[Kristin Moore]

Direct Evidence

Photograph from U.S. District Court via European Pressphoto Agency

This picture of a piece of United Airlines Flight 93 lying in a Pennsylvania field on September 14 was introduced as evidence during the trial that linked Zacarias Moussaoui to al Qaeda and the 9/11 attacks.

Moussaoui was sentenced to life without parole in 2006.

(See pictures of 9/11 artifacts, and get the personal stories behind them.)

Published September 8, 2011

[Kristin Moore]

The President's Men

Photograph from FDNY via AP

U.S. President George W. Bush comforts New York City firefighter Lt. Lenard Phelan during a September 14 visit to ground zero.

Phelan's brother Kenneth, also a firefighter, was among hundreds of New York firefighters still missing in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.

Published September 8, 2011

[Kristin Moore]

Ruined Apartment

Photograph by Todd Maisel, NY Daily News via Getty Images

Seen on September 14, an apartment on Liberty Street in lower Manhattan is a burned-out shell following the collapse of the World Trade Center during the 9/11 attacks.

Thousands of residents were forced to evacuate the area when the disaster left their homes uninhabitable.

Published September 8, 2011

[Kristin Moore]

Faces of the Fallen

Photograph by Mario Tama, Getty Images

People on a New York City street scan pictures of the many police and fire personnel still missing in the wake of the attacks as of September 28, 2001.

"I've heard from any number of survivors that they could tell by looking at firefighters' faces [the firefighters] knew how bad this was and that they might not get out," Chanin said. "They knew what they were facing, and the heroism and courage [they showed] is just astonishing."

Published September 8, 2011

[Kristin Moore]

Rising From the Rubble

Photograph by Michael Conroy, AP

On October 9, nearly a month after 9/11, the rubble of the World Trade Center's south tower still smoldered.

Today, ten years after 9/11, the memory of the attacks continues to burn even as a new version of the World Trade Center rises from the ashes at ground zero.

(Also see pictures of an 18th-century ship found under the rubble at the 9/11 site.)

Published September 8, 2011