Kamala Harris and Donald Trump both attended New York City’s annual commemoration of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people on Wednesday morning. It was an awkward confrontation, just hours after their heated presidential debate.

Joe Biden, the President of the United States, was joined by Harris, his vice president and now the Democratic presidential nominee for the November election, as Biden ended his re-election campaign in July after his own disastrous debate against Trump.

Biden and Harris marked the 23rd anniversary of the al-Qaeda attacks on the US by visiting each of the three sites where hijacked planes crashed in 2001: the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon near Washington DC and a field in Pennsylvania.

Trump was in attendance with his Republican running mate, J.D. Vance. Trump and Harris shook hands, tight smiles on their faces, before ceremoniously lining up for the ceremony.

Harris stood to the right of Biden, with former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg between Biden and Trump, and Vance to the left of Trump.

On Tuesday night, Harris purposefully walked onto the stage before the debate began and extended her hand to Trump. She introduced herself, since they had never met in person before, and forced Trump to shake his hand.

Harris traveled to New York just hours after most polls had her the winner of the debate against the Republican presidential candidate in Philadelphia, with just eight weeks to go until the Nov. 5 presidential election.

No speeches by politicians were planned at the site of the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan, still sometimes known as Ground Zero, where relatives will read the names of the victims.

Biden and Harris will then fly to Shanksville, where passengers on United Flight 93 overpowered hijackers and crashed the plane into a field, missing another target. They will then head back to the Washington area to visit the Pentagon memorial.

Nearly 3,000 people were killed in the attack, including more than 2,750 in New York, 184 at the Pentagon and 40 in Shanksville. That number does not include the 13 terrorist hijackers, who were also killed.

“We can only imagine the grief and pain that the families and survivors of 9/11 have felt every day for the past 23 years, and we will always remember and honor those who were taken from us far too soon,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters aboard Air Force One Tuesday night.

“We will continue to do everything we can to ensure such an attack never happens again,” she said.

Biden issued a proclamation honoring the victims of the attacks, as well as the hundreds of thousands of Americans who volunteered for military service afterward.

“We owe a debt of gratitude to these patriots of the 9/11 generation that we can never fully repay,” Biden said, referring to the deployments to Afghanistan, Iraq and other war zones, as well as the capture and killing of Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of 9/11, and his deputy.

U.S. congressional leaders on Tuesday posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal to 13 of the service members killed in the Aug. 26, 2021, suicide bombing at Kabul airport during the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Political tensions will run high in New York, even though the event is officially a nonpartisan commemoration.

“You’re with people who are feeling sadness, pride, grief — what that day is all about and what those loved ones meant to you. It’s not political,” said Melissa Tarasiewicz, who lost her father, New York City firefighter Allan Tarasiewicz.

Increasingly, tributes are being paid in New York City and the names of the victims are being read out by children and young adults who were born after a parent, grandparent, aunt or uncle was killed in the attacks.

“Even though I never met you, I feel like I’ve known you forever,” Annabella Sanchez said last year of her grandfather, Edward Joseph Papa. “We will always remember you and honor you, every day. We love you, Grandpa Eddie.”

A poignant phrase is increasingly heard by people who have lost a loved one: “I never met you.”

It is the sound of generational change. Some names are read out by children or young adults born after the strikes. Last year, 28 such young people attended the commemoration, among more than 140 readers. This year, young people are expected to attend the ceremony on Wednesday.

Some are the children of victims whose partners were pregnant. More of the young readers are nieces, nephews or grandchildren of victims. They have inherited stories, photographs and a sense of solemn responsibility.

The fact that we are a “9/11 family” resonates across generations. Remembering and understanding the attacks of September 11 will one day be a task for a world that no longer has any memory of them.

“It’s like passing the torch,” says Allan Aldycki, 13. He reads the names of his grandfather and several other people and keeps mementos of his grandfather, Allan Tarasiewicz.

Reuters and Associated Press contributed to the reporting