Americans are gathering Friday at the Pentagon, Ground Zero and the Flight 93 National Memorial to mark 25 years since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks killed 2,977 people and transformed the nation.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom.
The United States is marking the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks Friday with solemn ceremonies at the Pentagon, Ground Zero in New York City and the Flight 93 National Memorial in Pennsylvania, honoring the 2,977 people killed in the deadliest terrorist attack on American soil.
President Donald Trump is scheduled to attend the remembrance ceremony at the Pentagon, while Vice President JD Vance will join the commemoration at the National September 11 Memorial in lower Manhattan. Administration officials are also expected at the Flight 93 observance near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Twenty-five years ago, 19 al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners. American Airlines Flight 11 struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center at 8:46 a.m., followed by United Airlines Flight 175 hitting the South Tower at 9:03 a.m. American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon at 9:37 a.m., and United Airlines Flight 93 went down near Shanksville at 10:03 a.m. after passengers and crew fought back against the hijackers.
The attacks killed 2,753 people in New York, including 343 firefighters, 184 at the Pentagon and 40 passengers and crew aboard Flight 93.
Trump issued a proclamation Wednesday declaring Sept. 11, 2026, Patriot Day and ordering U.S. flags flown at half-staff in honor of the victims.
“We will never forget the 2,977 precious lives taken from us, we will always cherish their memories, and we will forever hold their families in the enduring embrace of our Nation,” Trump wrote.
The president said the promise made amid the destruction of Ground Zero must continue as a national obligation.
“A quarter of a century has passed since the terrible day of September 11, 2001, and an entire generation of Americans has now come of age with no living memory of that fateful day,” Trump said in the proclamation. “The passage of time must never dim what will forever burn bright in the conscience of our Nation.”
He added that the vow to “Never Forget” must be “renewed in every American heart, taught in every classroom, and honored in every community across our land.”
At the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, the annual observance will honor the 184 people killed when Flight 77 struck the building. Trump is expected to participate in the ceremony and commemorate those who died at the Pentagon as well as the broader national loss of Sept. 11. It will be the second consecutive year that Trump has marked the anniversary at the Pentagon.
Trump began the week’s commemorations Tuesday at the Ellipse near the White House, where he appeared with first responders and families beside a 21-foot steel beam recovered from the South Tower. The beam had traveled more than 10,500 miles as part of the Tunnel to Towers Foundation’s Steel Across America tour and was scheduled to return to New York for Friday’s anniversary.
In New York, Vance is scheduled to attend the 25th annual commemoration at the 9/11 Memorial plaza, where family members will again read aloud the names of those killed in the Sept. 11 attacks and the six victims of the Feb. 26, 1993, World Trade Center bombing. The private ceremony begins Friday morning and will be streamed publicly.
Seven moments of silence will be observed during this year’s ceremony.
Six mark the defining moments of the attacks: 8:46 a.m., when Flight 11 struck the North Tower; 9:03 a.m., when 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 in Pennsylvania; and 10:28 a.m., when the North Tower fell.
For the first time, the 25th-anniversary ceremony will include a seventh moment of silence after the reading of the names to honor first responders, recovery workers, lower Manhattan residents and others who later died from illnesses associated with exposure to the toxic aftermath of 9/11.
Friday night, New York’s Tribute in Light will again send two columns of light into the sky from lower Manhattan. First presented six months after the attacks, the installation uses 88 high-powered xenon bulbs arranged in two squares representing the footprints of the Twin Towers. The beams can reach about four miles into the sky and are visible from as far as 60 miles away.
In western Pennsylvania, the Flight 93 National Memorial will hold a full day of observances honoring the 40 passengers and crew members who died aboard the hijacked jet.
A morning ceremony near the Wall of Names is scheduled from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. and will include a reading of the names of those aboard Flight 93 and the ringing of the Bells of Remembrance. The program also marks the times of the attacks in New York, Arlington and Shanksville.
A second public ceremony will be held from 1 to 2:30 p.m., featuring remarks, keynote speakers, music and a public wreath-laying at the Wall of Names. The National Park Service will also illuminate the Tower of Light from sunset until midnight Friday.
A separate Luminaria Ceremony featuring 40 candle lanterns — one for each passenger and crew member of Flight 93 — is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 12, from 7:30 to 9 p.m., according to the National Park Service.
The quarter-century anniversary carries added significance because millions of Americans were either not yet born or are too young to remember the attacks themselves. Memorial organizations have increasingly emphasized preserving eyewitness accounts and teaching younger generations about the events and their lasting consequences.
The attacks reshaped American life, triggering sweeping changes in aviation security, intelligence gathering and domestic counterterrorism and leading to the creation of the Department of Homeland Security and the launch of the broader U.S. war on terrorism.
Their human consequences have also continued long beyond Sept. 11, 2001. Thousands of first responders, rescue and recovery workers and residents exposed to toxic dust and debris have since suffered serious illnesses, a legacy formally recognized in New York’s newly added seventh moment of silence.
Across all three attack sites Friday, however, the central focus remains the people who were lost.
At Ground Zero, their names will again be spoken aloud. At the Pentagon, families and national leaders will gather where Flight 77 struck. And in Pennsylvania, bells will ring beside the Wall of Names for the passengers and crew of Flight 93.
Twenty-five years after the attacks, the commemorations renew the promise that has defined every Sept. 11 anniversary since: to remember the victims, honor those who responded and ensure that a generation with no personal memory of that morning understands what happened.
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