this circle here. there are flags behind here, 35 flags representing the nations of the international coalition. this is where they'll be holding a formal ceremony. they're taking this day seriously. it will start in ernest about 5:00 local time, about 8 1/2 hours ahead of you. there will be a moment of silence at 5:16 local time, the time the first plane hit the first twin tower. what does this mean for the men and women here, for a lot of them it is the reason they are here. it's the reason they join the military. there are others i spoke to who were in elementary school on that day. they remember getting out of school early and watching tv and having their parents explain to them what terrorism means and what terrorism is. and there are many of these guys, some who were in the pentagon at the time of the attack who have feelings that are very raw, very real. they talk about every day, thinking about that day, thinking about that moment of

the attack and what it means to them professionally as well as personally, t.j. >> all right. also a reminder on this day as well, suzanne, of what they are fighting for. there was an attack in eastern afghanistan. tell us about that. >> reporter: you're right, because there's a certain sense of anxiety, anticipation, what to expect today, if there was going to be retaliation. it happened on the eve of september 11th. it was just last night about 5:30 local time. we are told it happened about 60 miles west where we are. it was a combat outpost, a truck bomb that exploded, two afghan civilians were killed. there were a lost injuries, t.j., you're talking about 77 from the international coalition, about 25 afghan civilians. mostly minor injuries but nevertheless, a lost people involved in this. we had an opportunity to talk to general john allen. set head of the u.s. and nato mission here in afghanistan. it was an exclusive interview. he told us what he believes this attack means and also the

threat, the mission, that is taking place here in afghanistan. >> i think it really indicates much more about what the taliban are unable to do than what they're able to do. this attack was a high-profile attack. it was a significant suicide vehicle bomb. they had been ejected from the population in so many places around the country, that their only ability to influence the battlefield in many cases, on many occasions, is simply high-profile attacks. >> reporter: and t.j., the general also acknowledged that, look, this is a long fight. it is a long haul. there are still threats around the world, the taliban if they are beginning to try to get to americans or others, there are still ways to do that. they're still very much in the fight. the main goal is to try to get the afghans up to speed to make sure they can have their own security, provide and protect their own people. that by the end of 2014, that is

the goal when u.s. and nato combat troops come home. general allen also said we're going to be in this for the long haul. we'll have a huge civilian effort, there will be trainers here and military here for years and years to come, to make sure this country is stable, that the taliban and al qaeda do not gain power again and use this country as a safe haven and there will be other hot spots in other places that the u.s. military is going to be critical. t.j.? >> suzanne malveaux in kabul. thank you this morning. as we continue our coverage on this tenth anniversary of 9/11, starting to hear bagpipes in the distance. the ceremonies are well under way here. we are seeing a number of them take place already this morning and then at 8:30, that is when the president is expected here. president obama along with former president george w. bush taking part in the 9/11 memorial ceremony here at ground zero. we'll bring you all of those ceremonies throughout the day, here in washington, d.c. as well as in shanksville, pennsylvania. coming up next, we'll join our

soledad o'brien once again, talking to one of the survivors of this day ten years ago. stay with us. there is the second tower, the top portion of which is collapsing. good lord. there are no words.

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welcome back to this special edition of cnn sunday morning on this tenth anniversary of september 11th. going to give you a look down at the memorial site. the memorial, those huge reflecting pools dedicated today at a ceremony that starts at 8:30 eastern time. you can see people starting to collect. many of the family members of people who were lost were invited today. they will there be for the ceremony. also president obama will be delivering remarks as well as former president george w. bush. that gets under way at 8:30 eastern time and at 8:46, of course, the moment when the first plane crashed into the u tower here at ground zero. we'll stop for a moment of silence. we will hear bells toll across the city. there are so, so many stories from this day ten years ago. i want to join soledad o'brien once again standing by with one of the survivors of this day. good morning to you once again,

soledad. >> good morning to you. over my shoulder they are starting to lay out the flags for the firefighters memorial celebration that will happen here. it will begin in a couple hours. they had the first wreath laying not long ago. they put those flags up, one to represent each firefighter, 343 who lost a life on 9/11. nicole simpson, though, is a survivor. she was working on the 73rd floor of tower two when the first plane hit tower one. she started making her way out of the building, going out the stairs. after that, of course, the story changes. nice to have you, thanks for talking with us. >> thank you. >> they made an announcement that the building was secure and started telling everybody to go back up to their offices. you started heading back upstairs. what happened? >> they made at announcement but didn't indicate we could go back upstairs. if it was secure i didn't have to evacuate at that time. when we got to the 44th floor,

my two assistants and receptionist was with me, we made the decision to go back upstairs, got on the elevator and instinctively got off the elevator. it was divine intervention, an act of god that pulled us off of that elevator. >> why did you decide not to get on the elevator. >> i felt we didn't need to get on the elevator. a tribute it to being a miracle in my life and being an act of god. >> what happened to the elevator. >> the elevators came crashing down not even 30 sections later. the door i was standing in front of didn't open. people alongside of me perished. when the tower two was hit, the elevators, when they came crashing down, fire walls began to explode just off of the impact. >> you have said that you feel like there has not been a lot of attention given to survivors stories over the last ten years. it hasn't. much information has given and compassionate empathy to the

families of the deceased and first responders. justifiably so. but survivors have had trauma and dealt with issues themselves. that hasn't been addressed. my concern is every year when 9/11 roll around, there's attention granted to it. we're still trying to heal, many people are significantly depressed, have lost their jobs, lost their places of residence because they've not been able to cope of the trauma that they endured, the images that are forever etched in my mined. >> anniversaries like this, is it brutal for you to make it through this month? >> it depends on the given year. some years are easier to cope with. it's based on what's beginning on in their lives. year five there was a lot of media attention given to it. year seven was my absolute year. this year it started a lot earlier. a decade is a long time to evaluate what's been going on in an individual's life. it's a perfect opportunity to

reflect. we do that in our own lives. >> nicole has written a book, it's called 9-11-01, a long road to recovery. the survivors, also, people who did not lose a family member on 9/11, those survivors also are not invited to the ceremonies at ground zero where you are, which i think some of them have found very, very difficult. the only thing i'd add, i remember that day so clearly. it was actually -- there was not a cloud in the sky. it was much warmer than today. it was literally the most perfect day. everything had changed not long after 8:30 in the morning. back to you, t.j. >> another gorgeous day. certainly a little cooler today. but just a picture here. we're trying to share, soledad, with our view areas cross the country as much as we can, this picture and trying to bring them in and be a part of this ceremony. so many people will be a part of it down there today. thousands expected here at ground zero today to be a part and many of them they won't be

right up to the podium or be able to get close, many not invited to the official ceremony. but still, people just want to be down here and be a part of what's happening today for this country. but it is just a gorgeous, gorgeous morning once again. so much attention will be focused on new york. but also the pentagon and washington, d.c. as well as shanksville, pennsylvania. we'll be checking in at the pentagon and in washington, d.c. here in just a moment on this special edition of cnn sunday morning. you okay? i'm not looking forward to my flight. try this. bayer aspirin? i'm not having a heart attack. it's my back. no, this is new bayer advanced aspirin... clinically proven to relieve tough pain twice as fast as before. what, did you invent this or something? well, my team did. i'm dr. eric first, from bayer. wow. look. it has microparticles. it enters the bloodstream faster and rushes relief right to the site of pain. better? great! thanks. [ male announcer ] new bayer advanced aspirin. extra strength pain relief. twice as fast. test our fast relief. look out for your coupon in this sunday's papers.

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we're at about a quarter to the top of the hour here on this cnn sunday morning. coming to you live from ground

zero in new york where just about 45 minutes we expecting a ceremony to start, a ceremony that will include president obama and former president bush as the nation stops to remember those who died in the attacks of 9/11. 2,753 people died as a result of the attacks here, on the twin towers in new york. but also at 9:37 that morning, ten years ago, another plane struck at the pentagon, 184 people were killed there. we'll also see ceremonies taking place there today and in d.c. is wolf blitzer. good morning to you and what are we expecting to see? >> we're going to see a very moving ceremony here at the pentagon, t.j. later this morning, the vice president joe biden will be here. in the afternoon the president of the united states will come over here to the pentagon as well. that hearn airlines flight 77 that took off from dulles, right

outside of washington, 8:20 a.m. it was on its way to los angeles, to l.a.x. it made an unexpected u-turn as we all know, hijacked by five terrorists, al qaeda terrorists and crashed into the pentagon behind me at 9:37 a.m. that's when there will be a moment of silence. there were 125 victims on board -- at the pentagon i should say, 59 people were on board. in addition there were the five hijackers, 184 victims of this terrorist attack, exactly ten years ago today. there will be a very moving ceremony, the u.s. military, the army and the navy will be performing renditions of "amazing grace," "battle hymn of the republic" and we'll hear from the vice president of the united states. so many of those family members who survived so many of the victims' family members will be here as well. there's a memorial, a series of

benches, honoring all those who died here at the pentagon ten years ago on this very day. we'll be watching it, t.j., very closely. we'll have live coverage, obviously of all of the events here in new york, in shanksville, pennsylvania. it's going to be one of those days s a lot of us remember. i'm sure everyone watching remembers where they were when they heard that very, very disturbing news. our coverage will be extensive throughout the morning here. t.j.? >> wolf, thank you so much. we'll check in with you again. and to our viewers, we are getting close to the top of the hour, getting close to the first ceremony that will be taking place here. the president is stopping here but he'll be making his way to shanksville, pennsylvania, that, of course, where those 40 brave passengers took that plane down to make sure it didn't reach its intended target. also, another big part of the store riff 9/11 has not just been what happened that day but

what happened afterwards and some of the health effects for some of the firefighters and the first responders who responded to ground zero. we'll be checking in with sanjay gupta for that part of the story in just a moment. stay with us for our special coverage of this cnn sunday morning, the tenth anniversary of september 11th. avis ] i wantd a way to break through. to make science as exciting as a video game. i need to reach peter, who's falling behind. and push janet who's 6 chapters ahead. ♪ [ male announcer ] with interactive learning solutions from dell, mrs. davis can make education a little more personal. so every student feels like her only student. dell. the power to do more. it's pro-cool technology releases armies of snowmen masseuse, who cuddle up with your soreness and give out polar bear hugs. technology. [ male announcer ] new bengay cold therapy. the same technology used by physical therapists.

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as we approach the top of the hour here on the anniversary of september 11th, and it's turning out to be a beautiful september morning once again. a little cool, but the sun has come up on ground zero, and we have families and other people coming down here to take part in the ceremony. the president is on his way here to take part in the ceremony. many people coming down to remember and reflect and to dedicate today the 9/11 memorial, the huge reflecting pulls that will be open starting tomorrow. all of the stories that came out of 9/19/11, one of the stories the condition of the first responders. this story is one that we didn't know about immediately after 9/11. it took us some years to figure

out, really. >> a lot of people suspected it at the time, t. j. you and me and so many others saw the toxic dust over lower manhattan, and there was a push to do as much as possible at that time. even search and recovery missions. there was also a lot of people breathing in the dust. as you say, we have better evidence ten years later than we had in the past what that dust did to some of the people. one of the most contentious issues, t. j., is surrounding cancer. the workers around here say they believe there is a link. take a listen, t. j. >> can't ride to the top of the mountain -- >> why him and not me? that question often crosses the minds of these two friends.

ernie and kelly. partners, they arrived at ground zero within hours of the collapse. >> we were watching the teams of firemen go in with tools and their packs and they would disappear before our eyes. >> it was the distance i am to you? >> yeah, pretty much your hand is where your partner would be as they disappeared into the dust. as we went in, i had to hold on to his jacket, and he would disappear and i would lose where we were going. >> we did not have any kind of respirators. we were trying to wrap bandanas around our faces. >> the city of new york said there were safety protocols implements. several hundred thousand respirators were made within a

week. but the reality is that balboa and his partner never got one. >> you are pretty convinced your partner got sick because of what he saw at ground zero. >> i am not a doctor, and there were too many of my friends, including earnie, they were getting the strange diseases where nobody could know where they came from. >> do you wonder why you didn't get it? >> yeah. >> there was that question again, why him and not me? and another mystery that lingers as persistently as the memories of the dust that developed ten years ago, could that dust cause cancer? >> i called from the hospital and i said i will not be coming back to work, they found an 11-centimeter mass inside by

abdominal area, and they believe it's cancer. >> reality of the loives, t. j. and this is some of the dust here and it's one of the few reminders that are left of what happened here ten years ago, but this was a whole unique substance. oftentimes you just heard they were unprotected, and people analyzed this dust and it's a mixture like they have never seen before, t. j. >> sanjay gupta, thank you so much. i will be handing this over to anderson cooper and candy crowley in just a moment. we are getting set for a ceremony taking place at the bottom of the hour, 8:30 eastern

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a day of remembrance is under way. families are starting to gather, and firefighters, and first responders are gathered here to remember what happened here ten years ago today. it's not just here in new york. also in washington, d.c. as well as in pennsylvania, and really all across the country, the country will stop to remember what happened