On Tuesday, the United States came together once again to mourn the thousands of lives lost in New York City in 2001. It was the 17th anniversary of the terrorist attacks, in which 19 Al-Qaeda militants hijacked four planes, carrying out attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, while a fourth plane was diverted from its target by the heroics of the passengers on board.
Across the United States, and the word, there were tributes paid to those lost, speeches given about unity, and stories shared of the many people who helped evacuate or otherwise save lives that fateful day. Memorials took place all across the country, including a remembrance ceremony held in Andover, Minnesota, by the local fire department.
The Andover Fire Department chose to pay tribute by using two of their trucks to display an American flag, over a highway on the outskirts of Minneapolis. That morning, Fire Chief Jerry Streich was on the scene, where he caught a symbolic moment on camera, as a bald eagle landed on the extended ladder of one of these trucks.
The eagle watched the men as they put up their "We will never forget" banner, a moment that was shared during a Facebook live video. You can watch the beautiful moment in the video below:
The Facebook post has since been shared over 100,000 times, with 2.3 million views so far.
"Isn’t that unbelievable," Streich says in the moment, and the commenters agreed. One of the 21,000 commenters wrote: "It gives me chills watching this !!"
"What could be more symbolic for this day?" the fire department wrote in their post.
