Visitors to the National September 11 Memorial walk below the rising towers 1 World Trade Center, left, and 4 World Trade Center, Monday, Sept. 10, 2012 in New York. Tuesday will mark the eleventh anniversary of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
/ AP Photo/Mark Lennihan
Families and friends of victims lost on Sept. 11, 2001, will gather at ground zero, the Pentagon and a field in Shanksville, Pa., to honor and remember those lost 11 years ago.
At today's ceremony at One World Trade Center in New York, relatives will read the names of their family members that were killed on 9/11.
Today's remembrance follows a breakthrough on a financial hurdle that stopped progress on a $60 million Sept. 11 museum. Victims' families and government officials were trying to strike a balance between honoring the almost 3,000 lives that were lost and creating a memorial that was too lavish.
Also, Tuesday's events mark somewhat of a change of tides for 9/11 ceremonies, as for the first time, elected officials will not speak out of respect for families.
President Barack Obama will, however, be attending a service at the Pentagon, and Vice President Joe Biden will be at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Pennsylvania.
Both President Obama and Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney said they will defer any negative attack ads in honor of the 11th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.
The AP contributed to this story.
