A Quarter-Century Since the Day That Changed America
NEW YORK — Twenty-five years have passed since a clear September morning became one of the darkest days in American history.
On September 11, 2001, 19 al-Qaida terrorists hijacked four commercial airplanes. Two were flown into the World Trade Center towers in New York City, another struck the Pentagon outside Washington, D.C., and United Airlines Flight 93 crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after passengers and crew fought back against the hijackers.
The attacks killed 2,977 people and transformed American life, national security and U.S. foreign policy for decades.
President Donald Trump proclaimed September 11, 2026, Patriot Day and ordered U.S. flags flown at half-staff in honor of the victims, according to a White House proclamation marking the 25th anniversary.
The Names Are Read Again
At the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in Lower Manhattan, relatives of those killed are gathering once again at the footprints of the former Twin Towers to read their loved ones’ names aloud.
The 25th anniversary commemoration ceremony began at 8:30 a.m. Friday.
This year’s ceremony includes seven moments of silence. Six correspond with the moments the World Trade Center towers were struck and collapsed, the attack on the Pentagon and the crash of Flight 93.
For the 25th anniversary, organizers added a seventh moment of silence honoring people who later died from illnesses and injuries connected to 9/11.
The first silence came at 8:46 a.m., the moment American Airlines Flight 11 struck the North Tower.
Families are reading the names of 2,983 people — the 2,977 victims killed during the September 11 attacks and the six people killed in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, according to the 9/11 Memorial & Museum.
The Toll Did Not End in 2001
For thousands of first responders, survivors and people who worked or lived near Ground Zero, September 11 did not end when the fires went out.
Exposure to dust, smoke and toxic debris has been associated with cancers, respiratory diseases and other illnesses.
More than 150,000 people are now enrolled in the World Trade Center Health Program, and more than 9,000 members of the program have died, according to Reuters reporting on the continuing legacy of 9/11.
Reuters also reports that more than 600 New York City firefighters have died from illnesses connected to their service following the attacks.
The growing death toll has transformed the meaning of remembrance. Twenty-five years later, the list of people affected by 9/11 continues to grow.
A Generation That Does Not Remember
One of the biggest changes at the 25-year mark is who is doing the remembering.
The 9/11 Memorial & Museum estimates that roughly 100 million Americans alive today have no lived memory of September 11, 2001.
For them, 9/11 is history rather than memory — something learned through classrooms, photographs, video and stories passed down by people who experienced it.
That makes the 25th anniversary about more than looking back.
It also raises a question about how a country preserves the meaning of an event as firsthand memory begins to fade.
For families, survivors and first responders, however, the passage of 25 years has not made the loss distant.
The names are still read.
The bells still ring.
And tonight, two columns of light will once again rise above Lower Manhattan.
Tribute in Light Returns Tonight
The annual Tribute in Light will illuminate the New York City skyline again Friday night, forming two massive beams of light symbolizing the former Twin Towers.
For the 25th anniversary, the 9/11 Memorial & Museum is partnering with Disney Entertainment Television for a special live broadcast beginning at 8 p.m. ET.
“9/11 Tribute in Light: Live from Lower Manhattan” will be hosted by David Muir, Robin Roberts and Diane Sawyer and will air across ABC, Disney+, Hulu, National Geographic, ABC News Live and participating ABC-owned station livestreams.
Cyndi Lauper is also scheduled to perform during the one-hour special.
Twenty-five years later, September 11 remains both a historical dividing line and a collection of deeply personal stories — of people who went to work and never came home, strangers who helped one another escape, first responders who ran toward danger and families who have spent a quarter-century keeping their loved ones’ names alive.
For a new generation, “Never Forget” increasingly means first learning what happened — and why it still matters.
