Nation Marks 25 Years Since September 11 Attacks With Solemn Ceremonies

NEW YORK — Americans commemorated the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on Friday with moments of silence, the reading of victims’ names and ceremonies at the three sites where hijacked airliners crashed, marking a quarter-century since the deadliest terrorist attack on U.S. soil.

On that morning, al-Qaida hijackers seized four commercial jets and crashed them into the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Nearly 3,000 people were killed.

Former Presidents at Ground Zero

At the National September 11 Memorial in Lower Manhattan, all four living former presidents attended the annual commemoration: George W. Bush, who was in office at the time of the attacks, along with Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Joe Biden. They were joined by former first ladies Laura Bush, Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama and Jill Biden, as well as Vice President JD Vance and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

Family members of victims read aloud the names of the 2,983 people killed on Sept. 11 and in the Feb. 26, 1993, World Trade Center bombing. By tradition, politicians do not speak at the ground zero ceremony. Bells marked the moments when each plane struck and when each tower fell. The reading concluded shortly before 1 p.m.

Pentagon Observance

President Donald Trump marked the day at the Pentagon for the second consecutive year, joined by first lady Melania Trump, cabinet members and Condoleezza Rice, who served as national security adviser at the time of the attacks. The names of the 184 people killed when American Airlines Flight 77 struck the building were read aloud.

“Today we renew the sacred oath that we first swore in their names a quarter of a century ago,” Trump said. “We will never, ever forget.”

Administration officials also attended a ceremony at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, where passengers and crew fought back against the hijackers before the plane crashed.

A Generation Later

The 9/11 Memorial and Museum added a moment of silence to honor responders and survivors who have died from illnesses linked to toxic exposure at the sites. Hundreds of thousands of people took part in rescue, recovery and cleanup operations in the months after the attacks.

A new poll released for the anniversary found that about half of U.S. adults regard the attacks as the most historic event of their lifetime. Memorial organizers have emphasized educating the roughly 100 million Americans born since 2001 or too young to remember that day.

Observances also took place in communities across the country and abroad, including a ceremony at Buckingham Palace in London.