Why are the flags flying at half-mast today?

DENVER – On Wednesday, flags will fly at half-mast for Patriot Day and National Day of Service and Remembrance.

President Joe Biden issued a proclamation calling on United States departments, agencies and entities to fly the flag at half-mast on Wednesday.

Colorado Governor Jared Polis followed Biden's proclamation and ordered flags to fly at half-staff from sunrise to sunset on Wednesday.

“Today we honor the brave Americans who faced the terror of September 11 with extraordinary courage and sacrifice,” Biden said in his proclamation. “In our darkest hour – when terrorists believed they could bring our country to its knees – these Americans proved that our nation's indomitable spirit will prevail.”

“In the moments, days and years following the attacks of 9/11, heroes were forged. Firefighters, police officers and emergency responders ran into the inferno of jet fuel and debris at Ground Zero, risking their own lives to save the lives of others,” Biden said. “Soldiers and civilians rushed into the fiery breach in the Pentagon again and again to save their colleagues. The patriotic passengers of Flight 93 made the ultimate sacrifice to prevent their plane from being used to save even more innocent souls. And in major cities, rural towns, suburbs and tribal communities, hundreds of thousands of American hands rose – ready to serve our nation in uniform.”

“We owe these patriots of the 9/11 generation a debt of gratitude that we can never fully repay,” Biden said. “They were deployed to Afghanistan to ensure the United States would not be attacked again. They served in Iraq and other war zones to defend our democracy and deny terrorists a safe haven. They followed Osama bin Laden to the ends of the earth and ultimately sent him to the gates of hell. And two years ago, we made sure his second-in-command suffered the same fate.”

“The First Lady and I hold in our hearts all those whose loved ones gave their final, full devotion in this fight. And we will never stop working to fulfill our country's sacred obligation to them and to all soldiers and veterans' families, caregivers and survivors: to adequately prepare and equip those we send into harm's way, and to care for them and their families when they return home – and when they don't.”

“Over the last 23 years, we have restored what was destroyed. What was threatened, we have fortified. What was attacked – the indomitable American spirit – has prevailed,” Biden said. “That is who we are. That is the soul of our nation. There is nothing we cannot accomplish if we wholeheartedly defend what makes us unique in the world: our democracy. That is what the heroes and patriots of 9/11 did. And that is what all of us must continue to do today.”