ARLINGTON, Va. — At dawn, along the west wall of the Pentagon, an American flag was unfurled over the point of impact to mark the 17th anniversary of the September 11th attacks.

Alongside family and building survivors was Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of Defense James Mattis and Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Paul Selva, as well as other Department of Defense leadership and Queen Elizabeth's youngest son, Prince Edward. President Donald Trump traveled to the site of Flight 93 in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, with the First Lady for a memorial service.

Mattis, who recently returned from an unannounced trip to Afghanistan, began his remarks by addressing the family members in attendance.

"To our most honored guests, the families of those we lost, seventeen Septembers ago, let me say to you here in the shadow of our rebuilt Pentagon, we are all part of your larger family," Mattis said. "Though evil visited us on a cloudless Tuesday morning, courage and strength answered amid the fire and smoke in New York City, over a Pennsylvania meadow and in this very building."