Sept. 11 Anniversary Marked by Somber Remembrance 25 Years Later

by Laura Nahmias, Amanda Gordon of Bloomberg News, 9/11/26

A quarter-century after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, families returned to the World Trade Center site on Friday to read aloud the names of the dead, marking a milestone anniversary of a tragedy that reshaped America.

Mourners and survivors gathered around the twin waterfall pools that mark the footprints of the two towers in Lower Manhattan for the somber ceremony. New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Vice President JD Vance, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former US presidents Joe Biden, Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton were expected to join for the day of remembrance.

As has been the tradition, family members will read out names of the 2,983 people killed on 9/11, as well as the Feb. 26, 1993, World Trade Center bombing. First, beginning at 8:46 a.m., six moments of silence will be observed at the times when each of the towers was struck, when each fell, when the Pentagon was attacked and when United Airlines Flight 93 crashed.

The 17-minute period defined an era and a nation, and 25 years later, an estimated 100 million Americans — nearly 30% of the population — are too young to remember that day.

President Donald Trump will attend a ceremony Friday morning at the Pentagon, honoring the 184 people who died there on 9/11 when a hijacked plane crashed into the Arlington, Virginia, building. At the Department of Defense headquarters, Trump is expected to give remarks, as he did at last year’s Pentagon commemoration.

For the first time, the Lower Manhattan ceremony includes an acknowledgement of how the toll of the attacks is still growing. After the reading of the names, a seventh moment of silence will be observed this year, honoring those who died years later from illnesses and injuries linked to the aftermath of the attacks. It is a recognition that even as the morning the twin towers collapsed passes from living memory for more Americans, its consequences are still unfolding.

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Nowhere is that more deeply felt than in the New York City Fire Department, which lost 343 members when the towers fell. In the 25 years since, 453 members have died from cancers, lung diseases and other illnesses linked to the toxic dust and debris that blanketed Lower Manhattan.

Fire Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore, 32 years old on 9/11, was an EMS Academy instructor in Queens who got the call and went to work. She now leads a department where only about 700 of its 17,000 members were there that day.

“What we have found so far is the fire department continues to live that day,” Bonsignore said in an interview.

Firefighters who were children when the towers fell now work alongside the dwindling number who responded that morning. New recruits inherit the stories of people they never knew and a skyline they never saw. And the number lost to the attacks’ long aftereffects continues to rise.

First responders continue to adopt lessons learned from the attacks. The FDNY and EMS have made changes to their communications systems and technologies used to locate members in emergencies. And they continue to work to keep memories of that day alive.

“You own it, and that’s how we have been able to keep this alive,” said Bonsignore. “And I feel confident that they will own that day, like I own it, having been there firsthand.”

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Bloomberg News provided this article. For more articles like this please visit bloomberg.com.

Sept. 11 Anniversary Marked by Somber Remembrance 25 Years Later

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