The United States is marking the 25th September 11 anniversary, pausing to remember nearly 3,000 people killed in the deadliest terrorist attack on American soil and the many rescue workers who later died from related illnesses.
At 8:46 a.m. in New York on Friday, bells will toll at Ground Zero, marking the moment American Airlines Flight 11 struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.
Relatives will read 2,983 names during the ceremony. They include 2,977 victims of the attacks in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania, along with six people killed in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
The observances will also include moments of silence for the second plane striking the South Tower, the attacks on the Pentagon and the collapse of both towers.
Families carry the loss forward
For relatives, the anniversary is less about history than the people missing from their lives.
John Ogonowski was the captain of Flight 11, which struck the North Tower 47 minutes after leaving Boston. His daughter, Caroline Ogonowski, welcomed her first child this year and named him John.
“This year, there’s this new sadness in knowing that they won’t ever get to know each other,” she told Reuters.
“My father will never know his grandson. And my son will never know his grandfather,” she said.
Ogonowski plans to attend a memorial service in Boston. She believes families owe it to those killed to teach younger generations what happened and explain who the victims were beyond the names read aloud each year.
Leaders attend separate ceremonies
Vice President JD Vance and the four living former presidents are expected to attend the Ground Zero ceremony alongside New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani and victims’ families.
George W. Bush, who was president during the attacks, will be among them.
President Donald Trump is due to commemorate the anniversary at the Pentagon, where American Airlines Flight 77 killed 184 people on board and inside the building.
Another ceremony will take place near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. United Airlines Flight 93 crashed there after passengers fought the hijackers as the aircraft travelled towards Washington.
Death toll continues to rise
The casualties did not end in 2001.
Firefighters, rescue workers and residents exposed to toxic dust around Ground Zero have developed cancers, respiratory conditions and other serious illnesses.
The New York City Fire Department lost 343 members on the day of the attacks. More than 600 additional firefighters, including retired personnel who worked during the rescue and recovery operation, have since died from illnesses linked to September 11. Twenty six died this year alone.
Patrick Whalen was among the firefighters who spent months working amid the rubble. He was diagnosed with cholangiocarcinoma in 2020 and died the following year.
“The government told him it was safe to breathe, and, obviously, it was not true,” his son said this week.
The Environmental Protection Agency had assured the public that the air around Ground Zero was safe. Former administrator Christine Todd Whitman apologised in 2016, saying the agency acted on the information available at the time.
September 11 changed American security, foreign policy and public life. It led to the creation of the Department of Homeland Security and wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. It also brought a surge in prejudice against Muslim Americans.
A generation has now reached adulthood with no personal memory of that morning. For the families gathering on Friday, the task is to make sure the people behind the 2,983 names are not reduced to a history lesson.
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