Leaders in several jurisdictions will pay remembrance to the victims that lost their lives on this, the 20th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The Stafford County Board of Supervisors declared September 11 as Patriot Day. The name made its first appearance in 2002 when the U.S. Congress passed legislation naming the day "Patriot Day." The day was further expanded in 2009 when President Barack Obama added a National Day of Service and Remembrance to the date.

In observance, Stafford is giving the majority of County offices and departments a half-day on Friday, Sept. 10, which will allow employees to leave at 12:30 p.m. The County Circuit Court will be open that day until 4 p.m.

The Regional Landfill in Stafford and the Belman Road Recycling Center in Fredericksburg will close at 4:30 p.m. On 10 a.m. Saturday, September 11, the county will hold a bell-ringing ceremony to remember those who lost their lives on that day.

Stafford has performed this ceremony each year following terrorist attacks. The county also asks residents to join them in this remembrance by flying their American flags at half-mast.

"The philosopher and novelist George Santayana is credited with saying, 'those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it," said Board of Supervisors Chairman Crystal Vanuch. "We are gathering to make sure we never forget those who were lost when our country was attacked and to remember, 20 years on, that we must always be united in protecting our country."

In Prince William County, service will be held at the September 11 Memorial Fountain, located on the county's government complex in 1 County Complex Court in Woodbridge. That event will be held on September 10 at 9:30 a.m. and led by the Board of County Supervisors.

A total of 22 county residents died in the Pentagon and New York City attacks, the locality with the highest number of residents lost in the Washington D.C. metropolitan region. Their names are engraved on a wall at the memorial fountain. 

In 2013, the county hoisted steel beams from the World Trade Center into a sculpture across the street from the memorial fountain. The sculpture, which serves as a reminder of that raw day was met with mixed reactions.

In Occoquan, the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 7916 will host a 20th-anniversary commemoration ceremony at Mamie Davis Park. According to Mayor Earnie Porta, the ceremony will include a keynote address by U.S. Air Force Veteran Bill "Skip" Powers.

Powers is a lifetime member of the Post 7916 and was the fire captain at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland on September 11. The ceremony will begin at 9:45 a.m. Saturday, at 202 Washington St. in historic Occoquan, and is free to the public.

After the ceremony, those in attendance are invited to a brunch held at cost at the VFW Post canteen.