NEW YORK — Americans marked the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks Friday with solemn ceremonies in New York, Virginia and Pennsylvania, remembering the 2,977 people killed and reflecting on an event that transformed U.S. security, foreign policy and everyday life.
At the National September 11 Memorial in lower Manhattan, relatives gathered to read the names of those killed at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, as well as six people killed in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Seven moments of silence were planned to mark the plane strikes, the collapse of the towers, the Pentagon attack, the crash of Flight 93 and those who later died from 9 to 11 related illnesses.
President Donald Trump attended commemorations at the Pentagon, where American Airlines Flight 77 struck the building. Vice President JD Vance joined the New York observance along with former presidents and victims’ relatives. In Shanksville, the National Park Service held ceremonies at the Flight 93 National Memorial, including the reading of the names of the 40 passengers and crew members and the ringing of the Bells of Remembrance.
For many families, however, the anniversary was less about national ceremonies than about relatives who never came home. Caroline Ogonowski was 14 when her father, John Ogonowski, captain of American Airlines Flight 11, was killed when the plane struck the World Trade Center’s North Tower. She recently named her first child John after her father and said the milestone brought a renewed sense of loss because her son will never meet his grandfather.
Ogonowski said families also have a responsibility to teach younger generations what happened. She said Americans should continue telling the stories of the victims, the heroes and the sense of unity that emerged after the attacks. Her comments carry particular weight 25 years later, as millions of Americans were born after 2001 and know Sept. 11 only through history lessons, family stories and images of the attacks.
For New York firefighter Scott Larsen, that history is deeply personal. Larsen was 4 when his father, also named Scott, died in the collapse of the World Trade Center. He later followed his father into the New York City Fire Department and now works from the same Queens firehouse where his father served. “His memory comes up every day,” Larsen said, describing the photographs, plaques and other reminders of his father surrounding him at work.
The human cost of Sept. 11 has also continued long beyond the day itself. More than 150,000 responders and survivors are enrolled in the federal World Trade Center Health Program, many suffering from cancers and respiratory conditions associated with exposure to toxic dust and debris. More than 9,000 people tracked through the program have died since 2001, although officials caution that not every death can be directly attributed to exposure from the attacks.
Dr. Michael Crane, medical director of the World Trade Center Health Program, said his years treating rescue and recovery workers taught him how intensely personal the disaster remained for those who searched the rubble. Crane described the responders as resilient and proud of what they had done, even as many continue to live with serious health consequences decades later.
Patrick Whalen, whose firefighter father worked for months at Ground Zero and later died after developing cancer, has been among those questioning assurances given about air quality after the attacks. “The government told him it was safe to breathe,” Whalen said this week, adding that subsequent illnesses showed the dangers were far greater than many responders had understood at the time. More than 600 additional current and former FDNY firefighters have died from illnesses linked to 9 to 11 since the 343 firefighters killed on the day of the attacks.
Sept. 11 also changed the United States far beyond the three attack sites. The attacks led to the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, sweeping changes in airport security and intelligence gathering, and the U.S. led war in Afghanistan. The period that followed also brought increased surveillance and a rise in prejudice and hate crimes targeting Muslim Americans and people perceived to be Muslim.
At the Flight 93 National Memorial, Superintendent Stephen Clark said the anniversary was an opportunity not only to remember those killed but also to carry their legacy forward “with courage and compassion.” Twenty five years after images of burning towers shocked the world, the ceremonies underscored a message repeated by families and survivors: the historical significance of Sept. 11 remains enormous, but its most enduring story is still about individual lives, families and memories passed from one generation to the next.
