Thursday marks the 24th year people across the country will remember the thousands of lives lost on 9/11.
WATCH: People prepare to remember 9/11
Many events around our area will commemorate the day.
In Baltimore County neighbors planted over 2,000 flags. one for each life lost that day.
Among them was Janice Chance, the mother of Marine Captain Jesse Melton the third, who was killed in Afghanistan in 2008.
"The whole world changed as a result of 9/11. Everything changed, and now we come together as patriots to help to remember those who made that sacrifice and especially our children on that hill," Janice said.
And in Harford County, County Executive Bob Cassilly will lead a ceremonial wreath laying.
Like many people, he remembers exactly where he was on that fateful day.
"We were all doing just those typical everyday things as most of us and when you heard of that, it was just shock, disbelief that 'no, wait, you're clearly wrong; that didn't happen,'" Cassilly said.
He told WMAR 2 News that 9/11 changed many people's lives, including his own.
"On 9/11 I was the mayor of Bel Air. I was just doing normal governing things. Within a matter of less than two years I was in Iraq in a uniform."
Remembering that day is even more important each year we get further away from 2001.
"Most young people don't know about 9/11, about the unspeakable horrors or the amazing heroism that marked that day. They don't appreciate that the events of that day launched our nation into almost two decades of war in which thousands of Americans died," he said. "We have to remember that our freedom isn't free and that many people day to day, even today, are sacrificing great sacrifices to ensure that we have those freedoms."
Janice told us that as we remember the first responders who we lost on 9/11, we shouldn't forget the ones who protect us today.
"When you see a firefighter, when you see a police officer, first responder, say thank you. Take some food past the firehouses, do something special for them, and then go out and serve like we do."
Thursday, they'll hold a candlelight vigil in Baltimore County that will add the names of 17 more Marylanders who died on 9/11.
