Twenty-five years after the deadliest terrorist attack on US soil, Americans on Friday commemorate the nearly 3,000 people killed when hijacked planes crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania.
The anniversary brings together victims families, first responders and survivors to remember those who died and reflect on the lasting impact of September 11, 2001, on U.S. foreign policy, domestic politics, national security and generations of Americans.
The attacks shaped the lives of those who witnessed them and those who grew up in their aftermath. For many directly affected, including victims’ relatives, first responders and rescue workers, the anniversary remains a solemn tribute to lives lost and the grief that followed.
Caroline Ogonowski’s father, John, was the captain of American Airlines Flight 11, which crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center 47 minutes after taking off from Boston, killing everyone aboard.
Ogonowski, now 39, welcomed her first child this year and named him John after her father. She visited her father’s grave with her son last week and will attend a memorial ceremony in Boston on Friday.
“This year, there’s this new sadness in knowing that they won’t ever get to know each other,” Ogonowski, who has worked in disaster relief and humanitarian assistance, said in a phone interview. “My father will never know his grandson. And my son will never know his grandfather.”
“We owe it to my father and all the others that we lost on that day to make sure that we continue to teach future generations about what happened, about who these people were, who these heroes were, how our country came together and became stronger because of it,” she added.
In New York, Vice President JD Vance and all four living former presidents, including former President George W. Bush, who was in office at the time of the attacks, will join Mayor Zohran Mamdani and victims’ relatives at the September 11 memorial in downtown Manhattan.
The ceremony will include moments of silence marking the times when the two planes hijacked by al Qaeda militants struck the World Trade Center towers, as well as when each tower collapsed.
Family members will read the names of all 2,977 people killed in the attacks in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania, along with the names of the six people killed in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
President Donald Trump will commemorate the anniversary at the Pentagon, while mourners will also gather in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, at the crash site of United Airlines Flight 93, where passengers and crew members fought back against the hijackers and brought down the plane as it headed toward Washington.
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A generation of Americans has grown up since 2001 without firsthand memories of the attacks, but their lives have been shaped by their consequences.
The attacks triggered the U.S.-led “war on terror,” leading to the creation of the Department of Homeland Security and the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, which lasted for years.
The political and public backlash that followed also contributed to the rise of Trump, who campaigned on promises to avoid new foreign entanglements. That position has since been tested by the ongoing war with Iran.
In the immediate aftermath of the attacks, Americans expressed widespread solidarity and patriotism alongside grief over the loss of life.
At the same time, Muslim Americans and immigrants from Muslim-majority countries faced increased discrimination and hate crimes. Public opinion surveys have found that the legacy of September 11 continues to influence Americans’ perceptions of Muslims.
Mamdani, New York’s first Muslim mayor, has faced calls from some Republicans to skip Friday’s ceremony. He has rejected those calls and plans to attend.
The toll of September 11 also extended beyond those who died on the day of the attacks. Many rescue workers who spent weeks or months at Ground Zero, as well as nearby residents and others, were exposed to toxic substances in the air and later developed serious illnesses.
Patrick Whalen’s father, also named Patrick, was a New York City firefighter who responded to the attacks and continued working at Ground Zero for months amid the dust and rubble.
In 2020, he was diagnosed with cholangiocarcinoma, a rare cancer associated with exposure to toxic carcinogens. He died on August 22, 2021.
“The government told him it was safe to breathe, and, obviously, it was not true,” the younger Whalen said after a New York City Fire Department memorial service this week.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had previously said the air around Ground Zero was safe to breathe. Its former administrator, Christine Todd Whitman, apologized in a 2016 interview with The Guardian, saying the agency had done its best based on the information available at the time.
The New York City Fire Department lost 343 members in the September 11 attacks. More than 600 additional firefighters, including some retired members who participated in the rescue and recovery efforts, have since died from illnesses linked to the attacks, according to department figures. Twenty-six of those deaths occurred this year alone.
REUTERS
