Today marks 23 years since four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks were carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001.
The September 11 attacks killed 2,977 people, making it the deadliest terrorist attack in history. Hijackers crashed two planes into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York on the day now referred to as 9/11.
On that day Patrick McCormack who's father hailed from Arva in Co Cavan was a member of the Emergency Service Unit and responded to the World Trade Center, where he assisted in rescue and recovery operations. He said the first task he undertook was evacuating older people from high rise apartments close to the twin towers.
He said it's a day he will never forget. Patrick at the time was a police officer in Yonkers which borders New York City and he said he still can remember the sight that presented him and colleagues as they came closer to the location.
