It was 23 years ago and a whole coast away but Ceres paused to remember the tragedy of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on Wednesday.

A small gathering of Ceres residents joined with police and fire personnel and members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and American Legion Friday morning at Whitmore Park for a solemn remembrance ceremony. The ceremony included remarks by Ceres American Legion Commander Pete Samaniego, a 21-gun honor guard salute and the playing of taps.

Also attending the event at the Ceres War Memorial in Whitmore Park were members of the Hughson Post of the American Legion and Squadron 872 of the Sons of the American Legion.

“On this day 23 years ago,” stated Samaniego, “America was attacked by a foreign terrorism group that did not approve of our democracy.”

The ceremony involved ringing of a bell four times after the roll call for those killed at the four locations, followed by the pronouncement, “No answer.”

The attack – accomplished when Islamic extremists hijacked three planes loaded with passengers and fuel and flew them into the World Trade Centers and the Pentagon – was the worst in American history.

One plane, Flight 93 was overpowered by passengers and brought down into a Shanksville, Pennsylvania corn field. Today a national memorial pays tribute to the 37 innocent passengers who were killed instantly.

More than 2,600 people died at the World Trade Center in New York City, and 256 on the four planes were killed. In addition, 343 firefighters and paramedics, 23 New York City police officers and 37 Port Authority Police officers were killed.

At the Pentagon, 125 military and support staff were killed when terrorists flew the plane into the building.

The death toll of 2,977 surpassed the 2,403 killed at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.

The attack prompted the United States to go to war on Oct. 7, 2001.