President Barack Obama says the U.S. is safer and its people resilient on the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Obama and first lady Michelle Obama laid a wreath at the Pentagon, one of several official observances marking the suicide hijackings that killed nearly 3,000 people on Sept. 11, 2001.

Aided by a Marine honor guard, Obama placed a white floral wreath on a metal stand above a concrete slab that said "Sept. 11, 2001 - 9:37 am." A moment of silence began at precisely 9:37 a.m.

In remarks at the Pentagon, Obama recalled a day "when grief crashed over us like an awful wave."

Later Tuesday, the president was to visit wounded soldiers and their families at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

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Only relatives will read victims' names at today's 9/11 ceremony in New York, and government figures won't be speaking today.

When president of the National Sept. 11 Memorial Joe Daniels announced the decision in July, he said it was "honoring the victims and their families in a way free of politics."

But President Barack Obama will be attending a ceremony today at the Pentagon and Vice President Joe Biden is expected to speak at the Flight 93 National Memorial near Shanksville, Pa.

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