A nation marks 25 years since 9/11. ‘We will always remember you’

Americans Gather to Honor the Lives Lost 25 Years After Sept. 11

Cybersecarmor.com – NEW YORK — A quarter-century after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, remembrance ceremonies across the United States brought together survivors, relatives, first responders and public officials to honor nearly 3,000 people killed in the nation’s deadliest terrorist attack.

In Lower Manhattan, the passage of time was especially visible as children read the names of family members they never had the chance to know. Their words joined the annual roll call of victims at the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, where relatives held photographs, placed flowers and stood beside the memorial pools bearing the names of those who died.

A young girl remembered her aunt and namesake, Maria Theresa Concepcion Santillan, with a message shaped by a relationship she could only imagine.

“I wish you could celebrate my birthday with me tomorrow. Please continue watching over us and know we all love and miss you.”

Beside her, a young boy spoke about his grandfather and namesake, Andrew Ira Rosenblum.

“We will always remember you. We love you. God bless America.”

Their presence reflected a changing generation of grief. Nearly one-third of Americans were not alive on the morning the attacks occurred, yet families continue to carry the absence of parents, siblings, grandparents and friends into new chapters of their lives.

A Day That Changed the Country

On Sept. 11, 2001, 19 al-Qaida-linked terrorists seized four commercial aircraft. Two planes were flown into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York, while another struck the Pentagon. Passengers and crew aboard the fourth aircraft resisted the hijackers, preventing the plane from reaching its intended destination near Washington, D.C.; it crashed in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

Almost 3,000 people were killed in the attacks. More than 400 first responders died that day, making it the deadliest day in U.S. history for emergency personnel. In the years since, additional responders, survivors and people who lived or worked near the attack sites have died from illnesses connected to the aftermath.

The 25th anniversary on Sept. 11, 2026, was marked at the three principal attack locations and in other communities tied to the day. Memorial events took place at the Pentagon, the Flight 93 National Memorial in Pennsylvania and in Boston, where two of the planes departed.

In New York, four former presidents attended the commemoration. First responders carried an enormous American flag onto the stage, and cellist Yo-Yo Ma performed while the names of victims were read aloud. For many attendees, the ritual offered both a public expression of national mourning and a private moment with the names etched into the memorial.

Memory, Division and Calls for Unity

The anniversary also unfolded against the backdrop of a deeply divided country. New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, the city’s first Muslim mayor, attended despite Islamophobic attacks and calls from conservative politicians for him to stay away. Former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who became a prominent symbol of New York’s response after the attacks before later controversies, stood nearby. Giuliani had said Mamdani’s attendance would offend him.

The tension contrasted with messages delivered in the immediate aftermath of Sept. 11. As anti-Muslim hostility rose in the days following the attacks, President George W. Bush visited the Islamic Center of Washington and said:

“Islam is peace.”

For many families, the anniversary also renewed frustration over the long-running litigation involving Saudi Arabia. Some speakers accused the Saudi government of supporting the hijackers. Saudi Arabia has repeatedly denied involvement or advance knowledge of the attacks, maintaining in court that it is an American ally and an enemy of al-Qaida. The legal dispute remains unresolved, continuing just blocks from the former World Trade Center site.

Terry Strada, the widow of World Trade Center victim Tom Strada and an official with 9/11 Families United, criticized successive administrations for their approach to Saudi Arabia.

“For 25 years, administration after administration, including leaders in front of us here today, chose to protect the Saudis instead of standing with the 9/11 families.”

She thanked Vice President JD Vance for attending and urged him to take the families’ concerns back to Washington.

“Please carry that message back – stand with the families, stand with the survivors, stand with Americans. As my husband Tom would have said, ‘That is always the right thing to do.’”

A Legacy Passed Forward

Barbara Pemberton, 74, traveled from Williamsburg, Virginia, to attend the New York ceremony in memory of her sister, Sue Sauer. Sauer had been at the World Trade Center for a work meeting on Sept. 11. Pemberton wore a bracelet bearing her sister’s name on her right wrist.

A retired educator, Pemberton said she hoped younger people would learn not only the events of the day, but also the shared sense of purpose that followed it.

“I wish we could go back to the day after 9/11 and see how patriotic people were then. We are so divided now and it breaks my heart.”

As morning light reached Lower Manhattan, an enormous American flag was unfurled along the west side of the memorial area. Across the country, similar gestures of mourning and remembrance underscored a central reality of the anniversary: the attack belongs to history, but its consequences remain present in families, communities and the national memory.

For those gathered in New York, the names read aloud were more than a record of loss. They were a promise that the people killed 25 years earlier would continue to be remembered by those who loved them — including generations born after the attacks.