Today is the 14th anniversary of one of the most harrowing days in United States history: the terrorist attacks that took nearly 3,000 lives here on American soil.

The events of that day are etched in the memory of anyone old enough to recall the hijacked planes crashing into the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and another airliner being driven to the Pennsylvania ground by passengers who sought to foil the terrorists.

The effects, of course, continue, with responders who went to the sites suffering ongoing health consequences, families of the murdered still mourning and a nation still wondering how such dreadful events could have happened.

Sept. 11 stories are still hitting the headlines. For instance, the federal 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund, which had been set up mainly to help people sickened by World Trade Center dust, also has granted nearly $2.5 million to 10 people who were at the Pentagon or the Flight 93 crash site in Pennsylvania according to a report released this week.

Another story this week told how some 30 pieces of steel remaining from the debris of the WTC’s twin towers are being requested for memorials and exhibits, with artifacts already distributed to all 50 states and eight countries, according to a report from The Associated Press.

And Thursday marked the opening of the third national memorial to the 9/11 victims, this one in Pennsylvania.

As has become tradition, a private commemoration is planned at ground zero in New York, with the public permitted to visit the site after the ceremony is complete today.

President Barack Obama was scheduled to travel to Fort Meade, Maryland, today to mark the anniversary.

We hope each of our readers takes a moment today to remember those lost on that terrible Tuesday in September 2001. Moreover, we would like everyone to thank those who work to secure our safety and well being, from the volunteer firefighter next door to the police officer at the nearby station to the men and women in the U.S. military, standing at the ready far from home.

While 14 years have passed, the horror of that day still seems fresh. Perhaps it always will because we will never, ever forget what happened.