Here’s a look back at TribLive’s coverage of the 20th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks in 2021.

• The families of the victims of Flight 93, the Shanksville community and others forged a resolve to bring the national memorial to life

Fate brought them together. Two decades later, the unlikely coalition of Flight 93 family members, Somerset County residents, and the National Park Service, who had worked for years to preserve the story of what happened aboard that United Airlines plane, met at the Flight 93 National Memorial, just outside Shanksville in Stonycreek Township.

• Shanksville remains small and quiet, but forever linked to September 11th

Kristina Serafini | TribLive

Vehicles drive down Main Street in Shanksville on Thursday, July 8, 2021.

The usual answer to this question is: They’re from Pittsburgh, even though their home is about 80 miles to the east. But when a resident of the small community of Shanksville in Somerset County is pressed by a stranger from another town to provide more details about where they live…

“They ask, ‘Where is Shanksville?’ And I say, ‘Where the plane crashed,'” Robin Lambert said.

Often you don’t need to say anything else.

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Gregory Zaborowski, education specialist with the National Park Service, speaks to fourth-graders from the Baldwin-Whitehall School District at Flight 93 National Memorial on May 24, 2016.

• Teachers draw on the Flight 93 memorial and personal experiences when teaching about 9/11

Those who lived through September 11, 2001 often have vivid memories. Many still remember where they were when the first plane hit the World Trade Center. Most remember watching the news and learning about the attacks as they happened.

But today’s students were no longer witnesses to the events. Instead, they learn more about the events in class.

Local educators agreed that this is a part of history that they cannot simply have their students read in a textbook.

Kristina Serafini | TribLive

Kyle Koval poses for a portrait in the gym on the Shanksville-Stonycreek School District campus on Monday, June 28, 2021. Koval was using the gym’s weight room, now a physical education office, when Flight 93 crashed nearby on Sept. 11, 2001. He was in sixth grade at the time.

• 20 years later, former Shanksville students remember September 11

The morning of September 11, 2001 began like any other for the residents of the Shanksville-Stonycreek School District.

The yellow building in Stonycreek Township was bustling with activity at the start of the new school year, as elementary and high school students shared the building and went about their classes, completed art projects, and competed for the Presidential Physical Fitness Award in physical education class.

But at 10:03 a.m. everything stopped. There was a loud bang. The school shook.

Kristina Serafini | TribLive

Retired Pennsylvania State Police Captain Frank Monaco poses for a portrait at his home in New Kensington on Thursday, July 15, 2021. Monaco was one of the first responders in Shanksville on Sept. 11, 2001.

• A Lasting Impact: How September 11th Impacted the Lives of People in Western Pennsylvania at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and Shanksville

Frank Monaco was too busy to get emotional on September 11. Captain Monaco had been a Pennsylvania State Police officer for over 25 years when United Flight 93 crashed near Shanksville, Somerset County, on September 11, 2001, killing 40 passengers and crew.

If Monaco felt anything when he arrived at the scene and saw the “big steaming hole in the ground,” it was anger that a terrorist attack had led to a plane crash that killed innocent people so close to home. But he had seen his fair share of death and destruction in the 25 years he had held that post, and nothing could faze him.

Shane Dunlap | TribLive

Barbara Fischer, a U.S. Air Force veteran, speaks at her home on July 12, 2021, about her experiences in the U.S. military after September 11, 2001

• September 11 was a call to military service for many residents of Western Pennsylvania

Aryanna Hunter, Dan Peters and Barbara Fischer were all 18 years old in 2001. The day before the attacks, Hunter was attending a community college and wanted to become an elementary school teacher. Peters had dropped out of high school and was not making any progress. Fischer was already planning to enroll, but only to pay for college.

There were three different people on three different paths in three different places who all saw what had happened that day and decided to come forward.