Law officers, firefighters, soldiers and state officials gathered on the state Capitol steps in a light drizzle to remember the victims of Sept. 11, 2001, and the people who tried to help them.

"I've given a lot of thought to, 'How do we remember this?' And I've concluded that the best way to remember the victims is to protect our liberties from those who would take them away," said Brig. Gen. Jerald Engelman, the deputy adjutant general of the North Dakota National Guard. "God bless America."

The ceremony was part of a U.S. Defense Department initiative to mark the anniversary of the terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C.

The attacks were carried out by a group of Islamist fanatics, who hijacked four jetliners and crashed three of them into the Pentagon and the two towers of the World Trade Center. The fourth crashed in a field in western Pennsylvania after its passengers began fighting the hijackers.

A friend of Ann Nelson of Stanley, who was on the 104th floor of the World Trade Center's north tower when it was struck by the first plane, read a poem written by Nelson's mother, Jenette.

Jenette Nelson wrote the poem to honor an ironworker she met at the center's site, two months after the attacks, said the friend, Jana Abel. The ironworker observed Jenette Nelson weeping, and fashioned a cross from steel he took from the wreckage to present to her, Abel said.

Ann Nelson's parents, Jenette and Gary Nelson, are visiting New York this week to mark the anniversary. "I want to thank the Nelsons for allowing me to read this poem for them," Abel said. "It's a privilege to honor my dear friend, and fallen American."

A light, cold drizzle fell on the 170 people who observed the noontime ceremony, with the sun breaking through as it was ending. A row of American flags lined the east and west driveways that flank the Capitol's south mall.

In brief speeches, Gov. John Hoeven and Lt. Gov. Jack Dalrymple said the attacks showed the importance and devotion of "first responders" - police, firefighters and emergency medical personnel.

"Against the tragic backstop of smoking buildings and terrified people, we saw men and women rise bravely to the occasion," Hoeven said.