ARLINGTON, Va. — President Donald Trump marked the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks Friday at the Pentagon, honoring the 184 people killed when hijacked American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the military headquarters and pledging that the country would “never, ever forget.”
Trump and first lady Melania Trump stood with military leaders, victims’ relatives, first responders and government officials at a remembrance ceremony in Arlington, Virginia. They listened as the names of those killed at the Pentagon were read aloud, with a bell tolling after each name.
The anniversary was observed across the country with ceremonies in New York City, at the Flight 93 National Memorial near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and at the Pentagon. Nearly 3,000 people were killed on Sept. 11, 2001, when 19 al-Qaida hijackers seized four commercial airplanes and carried out attacks that changed U.S. foreign policy, domestic security and public life for a generation.
“Today we renew the sacred oath that we first swore in their names a quarter of a century ago,” Trump said at the Pentagon. “We will never, ever forget. That’s why we fight today.”
Trump’s decision to attend the Pentagon ceremony meant Vice President JD Vance represented the administration at the annual Ground Zero observance in Lower Manhattan. Vance joined all four living former presidents, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Joe Biden, along with former first ladies, victims’ families and survivors.
The milestone anniversary brought a new element to the New York commemoration: a seventh moment of silence for people who later died from cancers and other illnesses linked to toxic dust exposure after the attacks.
For families and survivors, the day remained less about politics than memory — the names of the dead, the moments when planes struck, the sounds of bells, and the continuing impact of an attack that took place a quarter-century ago but remains deeply present in American life.
A solemn ceremony at the Pentagon
The Pentagon ceremony began with the reading of the names of the 184 victims killed when Flight 77 crashed into the building at 9:37 a.m. on Sept. 11, 2001. The victims included military personnel, civilian Defense Department employees and passengers and crew members aboard the plane.
Trump and the first lady stood in silence as relatives remembered their loved ones.
The president later laid a wreath at the Pentagon Memorial, where 184 illuminated benches honor each person killed in the attack. The benches are arranged according to the victims’ ages, from the youngest, 3-year-old Dana Falkenberg, to the oldest, 71-year-old John D. Yamnicky.
The Pentagon was one of three attack sites on Sept. 11. Two planes struck the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers in New York. A fourth plane, United Airlines Flight 93, crashed into a field in southwestern Pennsylvania after passengers and crew members fought back against the hijackers, preventing the aircraft from reaching its intended target in Washington.
The attacks killed 2,977 people, according to the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, including more than 400 first responders. It remains the deadliest day in U.S. history for emergency workers.
Trump’s remarks focused on the victims, their families and the country’s response.
“The bloodshed of that day is written into the eternal memory of our nation,” he said, according to reporting from the Pentagon ceremony.
He also linked remembrance to his administration’s national-security priorities, describing a commitment to a strong military and continued vigilance against terrorism.
On Wednesday, Trump issued a proclamation designating Sept. 11 as Patriot Day 2026. The proclamation recounted how “the peace of our Nation was shattered” on Sept. 11, 2001, and said the administration remained committed to defending the country with “the strongest and most lethal military the world has ever known.”
New York remembers at Ground Zero
In Lower Manhattan, the annual ceremony began at 8:46 a.m. with a moment of silence marking the time American Airlines Flight 11 struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center.
Family members then began reading the names of those killed in New York, at the Pentagon and aboard Flight 93.
The ceremony has changed little over the years. It remains intentionally centered on relatives of the dead rather than political speeches. Families often add personal messages, birthdays, memories and expressions of grief as they read names aloud.
But the 25th anniversary included a new acknowledgment of the attack’s long aftermath.
For the first time, organizers added a seventh moment of silence honoring first responders, recovery workers, survivors and others who later died from illnesses connected to exposure at Ground Zero.
The original ceremony includes six moments of silence marking:
- 8:46 a.m., when Flight 11 struck the North Tower.
- 9:03 a.m., when United Airlines Flight 175 struck the South Tower.
- 9:37 a.m., when Flight 77 struck the Pentagon.
- 9:59 a.m., when the South Tower collapsed.
- 10:03 a.m., when Flight 93 crashed near Shanksville.
- 10:28 a.m., when the North Tower collapsed.
The addition of a seventh silence reflects a painful reality: the death toll from Sept. 11 did not end that day.
Thousands of first responders and survivors were exposed to toxic dust, smoke and debris in the days and months after the towers fell. Many later developed cancers, respiratory illnesses and other chronic conditions.
Reuters reported this week that the health toll continues to grow, with many first responders diagnosed with severe illnesses linked to Ground Zero exposure and some dying before reaching the 25th anniversary.
The new moment of silence was a recognition that the nation’s memory of Sept. 11 must include those who died in its aftermath, not only those killed in the attacks themselves.
Former presidents join the New York ceremony
The presence of former presidents at Ground Zero gave the anniversary an unusual sense of continuity across political eras.
George W. Bush, who was president on Sept. 11, 2001, attended alongside former presidents Clinton, Obama and Biden. Former first ladies also joined the ceremony.
Bush has often attended memorial events connected to Sept. 11, though he has generally avoided major political speeches in recent years. His presence carried particular historical weight because he was informed of the attacks while visiting a Florida elementary school, then addressed the nation and led the U.S. response in the weeks and years that followed.
The attacks prompted the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, expanded airport security, a global counterterrorism campaign and wars in Afghanistan and Iraq that shaped American foreign policy for decades.
The U.S. invasion of Afghanistan began less than a month after the attacks, targeting al-Qaida and the Taliban government that had provided it sanctuary. The war lasted nearly 20 years, becoming the longest in U.S. history before the American withdrawal in 2021.
The 9/11 anniversary therefore remains a Memorial Day and a point of reflection on the consequences of the response that followed.
At Ground Zero, however, the focus remained on the victims and their families.
A young girl climbed onto the stage and read the name of her late aunt and namesake, Maria Theresa Concepcion Santillan, Reuters reported. Such moments have defined the annual ceremony: personal grief expressed publicly, often by relatives who were not yet born when the attacks occurred.
Shanksville honors Flight 93
At the Flight 93 National Memorial in Pennsylvania, families and visitors remembered the 40 passengers and crew members who died after resisting the hijackers.
The passengers learned through phone calls that other planes had struck the World Trade Center. They organized a response, attempting to retake the aircraft before it crashed into a field near Shanksville at 10:03 a.m.
The actions of Flight 93’s passengers and crew are widely credited with preventing the plane from striking another target, believed to have been in Washington, D.C.
The National Park Service held its annual ceremony at the memorial site Friday afternoon. 1007
Administration officials attended the Shanksville ceremony, ensuring that the White House had representation at all three locations directly tied to the attacks.
The Flight 93 memorial has become a place not only of mourning but also of reflection on civilian courage. The passengers’ decision to confront the hijackers remains one of the most enduring stories of Sept. 11.
A quarter-century of change
The Sept. 11 attacks reshaped everyday American life.
Airport screening became more extensive. The Transportation Security Administration was created. Federal buildings, sports venues, schools and public events adopted new security protocols. The Department of Homeland Security was established in 2002, bringing together agencies responsible for border protection, emergency management, immigration enforcement and transportation security.
The attacks also changed how Americans viewed threats from abroad.
The United States launched a global campaign against al-Qaida and affiliated groups. It expanded surveillance authorities, strengthened intelligence-sharing systems and formed new international counterterrorism partnerships.
For many Americans, the effects were immediate and personal: military deployments, loss of loved ones, changes in travel, fear of another attack and a persistent awareness of security.
For younger Americans, Sept. 11 is history rather than direct memory. The 25th anniversary marked the point at which a growing share of the population was either too young to remember the attacks or born afterward.
That generational shift gives anniversaries new significance.
Memorials, museums, school lessons and family stories become the main way the event is passed on.
The National September 11 Memorial & Museum in New York and the memorials at the Pentagon and Flight 93 site serve as physical reminders of the attacks and their human cost.
They also reflect the difficulty of preserving memory as time passes.
The continuing toll on first responders
The 25th anniversary brought renewed attention to people whose injuries and illnesses emerged years after the attacks.
First responders, construction workers, volunteers, residents and office workers were exposed to a toxic mix of dust, smoke, pulverized concrete, asbestos, heavy metals and other contaminants after the World Trade Center towers collapsed.
The World Trade Center Health Program provides medical monitoring and treatment to eligible survivors and responders. It has certified thousands of health conditions linked to Sept. 11 exposure, including many types of cancer, respiratory disease and mental-health conditions.
Reuters reported that many of the people who rushed to help on Sept. 11 or worked at Ground Zero in the following months have died from illnesses associated with the exposure.
The seventh moment of silence in New York was meant to recognize those losses.
It also reflected a broader shift in public understanding.
For years after the attacks, the focus was on the immediate death toll and the destruction of the buildings. As time passed, the health consequences of the aftermath became impossible to ignore.
The memorialization of those later deaths expands the meaning of Sept. 11 remembrance. It recognizes that the disaster was not confined to one morning.
Trump’s role and a divided political moment
Trump’s appearance at the Pentagon was his second consecutive year observing the anniversary there.
His absence from the New York ceremony was unusual for a sitting president, particularly on a milestone anniversary. But the administration divided its representation among the three sites, with Vance attending the Ground Zero event and other officials going to Shanksville.
The separation also prevented the New York ceremony from becoming centered on the president’s presence.
At the Pentagon, Trump spoke in more overtly political and military terms, connecting the memory of Sept. 11 to current defense policy.
At Ground Zero, the program remained focused on names, music and family testimony.
That contrast illustrated the two ways the anniversary is observed.
It is a national-security event, remembered through military readiness and counterterrorism. But it is also a deeply personal day, remembered through individual lives lost.
Twenty-five years later, both meanings remain.
The meaning of “never forget”
“Never forget” has become the defining phrase of Sept. 11 remembrance.
It appears on memorials, banners, firefighter patches, military ceremonies and public statements every year.
But its meaning has evolved.
For families, it means remembering a parent, sibling, spouse, child or friend who did not come home.
For first responders, it means honoring colleagues who died during the rescue effort and those who later became ill.
For veterans, it may mean recalling the wars that followed.
For younger Americans, it may mean learning about an event they did not experience directly but that shaped the country they inherited.
Trump’s message at the Pentagon was direct: “We will never, ever forget.”
The ceremonies in New York, Arlington and Shanksville gave the phrase human form.
Names were read. Bells rang. Wreaths were laid. Families gathered in rain and sunlight. A new silence honored people who died years later.
The 25th anniversary was not only a look backward at a day that changed the world. It was a reminder that the consequences of Sept. 11 are still unfolding, in families, in health programs, in national security and in the collective memory of a country that continues to mark the day in sorrow and resolve.
