SOUTH BEND, Ind. - Thousands came together across the country Monday to commemorate the 16th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks.

In St. Joseph County, Mayor Pete Buttigieg and other local officials gathered with the community at St. Patrick's County Park for a special ceremony.

"The events may have happened in a specific geographic place," Buttigieg said, "but anybody who is American, wherever they were in the world, felt the events of that day."

Mayor Pete says 9/11 was a day that impacted him directly.

"I know that my life would have gone very differently if September 11th hadn't happened," he said. "I probably wouldn't never wound up in Afghanistan, I'm not totally sure I would have been in uniform, one of the things that motivated me to do that."

Buttiegieg spent seven months overseas as a Naval intelligence officer in 2013. He is still a lieutenant in the Naval reserve.

He says it is important for South Bend to show solidarity with people across the county on this momentous day in American history.