Vice President Mike Pence spoke Monday at the Sept. 11, 2001 crash site of Flight 93, honoring the "40 heroes of Flight 93; men and women who looked evil squarely in the eye without regard to their personal safety to save lives."
Pence spoke at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pa. during a ceremony in recognition of the 16th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks.
Pence remarked how "everyone remembers where they were on this day 16 years ago," and recounted his own experience being evacuated from the U.S. Capitol building – Flight 93's expected target – on 9/11.
"As a new member Congress, I was going through my normal workday routine at the United States Capitol when I learned of attacks in New York City and at the Pentagon. I will always remember the scenes of that day, watching the Capitol complex being evacuated. It was as though the building was literally hemorrhaging with people running in every direction."
The president then described how he learned where Flight 93 was expected to hit.
"I found myself just across the street from the U.S. Capitol eventually, on the top floor of the headquarters of the the Capitol police chief. I was there with leaders of the House and Senate. Shortly after I arrived, the chief of police set the phone back down, and informed the leaders gathered there that there was a plane inbound to the Capitol, and he said it was 12 minutes out."
"It was the longest 12 minutes of my life," he continued. "But it turned to 13 minutes, then 14, and then we were informed that the plane had gone down in a field in Pennsylvania."
Pence named and described a number of the "40 heroes on Flight 93; men and women who looked evil squarely in the eye without regard to their personal safety to save lives."
"They were ordinary people, but on that day, they became extraordinary," Pence said.
"At 9:57 only after 27 minutes, Todd Beamer spoke those words that America will never forget: 'Let's roll.' They charged the cockpit. They took hold of their fate, and six minutes later at 10:03, Flight 93 plumbed here to the Earth," Pence said. "Brave men and women aboard sacrificed their lives for the country we call home. We gather here today because the men and women of Flight 93 are heroes."
President Donald Trump and other U.S. officials also spoke at a 9/11 ceremony at the Pentagon Monday.