By The Associated Press

Vice President Mike Pence addressed the family and friends of the victims of United Flight 93 and the hundreds of citizens attending the somber service in Pennsylvania.

Pence tells the crowd he was in Washington as a member of Congress on 9/11. That’s where he learned a hijacked plane was heading to the U.S. Capitol and was only 12 minutes away. He says that was the longest 12 minutes of his life, but he soon learned the plane went down in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

Thirty-three passengers and seven crew members were killed.

The ceremony started at 9:45 a.m., the time that federal investigators determined passengers decided to revolt against their four al-Qaeda hijackers, who ended up crashing the plane in a field 60 miles (96 kilometers) southeast of Pittsburgh.

Pence says those passengers might well have save his life.

A somber ritual that includes the tolling of bells and a reading of the victims’ names is underway in Pennsylvania, honoring the 33 passengers and seven crew members killed in the terror attack on United Flight 93.

On Sunday, ground was broken at the national memorial on the last element of the park, a 93-foot Tower of Voices with 40 tubular wind chimes, one for each victim.

It should be completed in time for the 17th anniversary of 9/11.