The 20th anniversary of the terrorist attack on Sept. 11, 2001 will be observed in Ceres at a special 9/11 Memorial Service at Whitmore Park.

The Ceres Post of the American Legion will be sponsoring the event at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 11.

The service will include the posting of the colors, a prayer led by a local minister, and a rifle salute to American citizens, first-responders and military personnel who died on that dark day in American history.

The public is invited to attend the short memorial.

The attack – accomplished when Islamic extremists hijacked three planes and flew them into the World Trade Centers, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania corn field – was the worst in American history. More than 2,600 people died at the World Trade Center in New York City, 125 died at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and 256 died on the four planes. The death toll surpassed that at Pearl Harbor in December, 1941.

A total of 2,974 victims were confirmed to have died in the initial attacks. In 2007, the New York City medical examiner’s office began to add people who died of illnesses caused by exposure to dust from the site to the official death toll. 

As of August 2013, medical authorities concluded that 1,140 people who worked, lived, or studied in Lower Manhattan at the time of the attack have been diagnosed with cancer as a result of “exposure to toxins at Ground Zero.” 

It has been reported that over 1,400 9/11 rescue workers who responded to the scene in the days and months after the attacks have since died. At least 11 pregnancies were lost as a result of 9/11.