Americans paused on Friday to mark 25 years since the September 11 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people when hijacked planes struck the World Trade Centre, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania. Families of the victims joined Vice President JD Vance and four former presidents at Ground Zero in New York for a solemn ceremony that began with a moment of silence at 8:46 am.
Family members then read aloud the names of all 2,977 people who died that day, along with the six killed in the 1993 World Trade Centre bombing. Some of the readers were children who never met the relatives they lost. Additional moments of silence marked the times when the other planes crashed and the towers fell. For the first time, a seventh silence honoured thousands who later died from illnesses caused by toxic dust at the site.
The New York City Fire Department lost 343 members on September 11. More than 600 additional firefighters have since died from related illnesses, with 26 passing away this year alone. At the Pentagon, President Donald Trump spoke about the 184 lives lost there and used the occasion to address current security concerns. Ceremonies also took place in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where passengers brought down United Airlines Flight 93.
Many families continue to feel deep personal loss. Caroline Ogonowski, whose father captained the first plane to hit the North Tower, recently had a baby and named him after her father. She said the anniversary carries new sadness knowing the two will never meet. Gregory Carafello attended to honour a lifelong friend who worked at Cantor Fitzgerald, a firm that lost more than 650 employees.
The attacks reshaped American life, foreign policy and attitudes toward security. Muslim-Americans and immigrants from Muslim-majority countries faced a rise in hate crimes and lasting prejudice after the attacks. Public solidarity and patriotism mixed with sorrow in the immediate aftermath, while the long-term effects still influence how the country remembers that clear blue day a quarter century ago.
