Glenna Putyrski, who lived in a nearby town, said she was a sixth grader when the plane crashed and had no idea what was going on, and attending the Luminaria Ceremony makes things real.

"Seeing the family members, I was really choked up too, because it just makes it so much more real seeing a family member of each person. And you just realize all those individual families and their own stories and everybody that was affected," Glenna told Xinhua.

Asked about one of the major changes the 9/11 attacks have brought, Glenna highlighted the loss of trust among people and among countries. "Just overall distrust in the world, I feel like that just changed everybody's outlook on everything," she said.