US marks 25 years since 9/11 atrocity: ‘Moments that divide time’
Americans are commemorating the 25th anniversary of 9/11, remembering the shock, the dead and the sweeping consequences of the al Qaida attacks on symbols of US might and prosperity.
The milestone will bring memorial rituals – wreath-laying, flag-flying, moments of silence, vigils and readings of victims’ names – and volunteer projects in tribute to a day that about half of US adults remember as the most historic event of their lifetime, according to a new poll.
It is an occasion for private reflection as well as education for younger people about the attack that unfolded in a single morning but left nearly 3,000 people dead and had an aftermath lasting decades – from personal grief to far-flung wars.
On September 11 2001, al Qaida extremists hijacked four commercial jets and crashed them into New York’s World Trade Centre, the Pentagon and a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
The impacts brought down the World Trade Centre’s twin towers – icons of US economic power, and among the tallest buildings on Earth at the time – and blew a hole in the Pentagon, the US military’s headquarters near Washington.
The fourth plane was heading for the American capital, officials concluded, but the aircraft went down in Pennsylvania after passengers and crew members stormed the cockpit and fought the hijackers.
“In the course of history, there are a few moments that divide time into, really, what came before” and after, US president Donald Trump said at a 9/11 remembrance in Washington this week.
The Republican, who was in his native New York on September 11 and has often recounted his memories, plans to attend the Pentagon’s anniversary ceremony.
Vice president JD Vance is expected at the observance at the National September 11 Memorial in New York, while other administration officials are heading to the Flight 93 National Memorial in Pennsylvania.
Planned remembrances extend far beyond the attack sites, from beams of light projecting from New Hampshire’s Mount Washington to a stair climb at Mississippi State University’s football stadium to a ceremony at Honolulu’s 9/11 memorial.
Traditionally, there are no political speeches at the New York commemoration, where relatives read all the victims’ names, punctuated with moments of silence at key points in the attack timeline.
For the first time, this year’s ceremony will add a silent moment to honour people who were exposed to the clouds of toxic dust released by the twin towers’ fiery collapse and have since died of cancer and other illnesses.
Questions remain about how many people developed health problems linked to the dust.
It is a reminder of how the attacks’ long shadow has reached into many corners of life in the US and beyond.
The US-led global war on terrorism included the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan – the latter being Washington’s longest war – as well as detentions and harsh interrogation of terror suspects in an international network of secret CIA prisons.
The US military found and killed al Qaida leader Osama bin Laden in Pakistan in 2011, but the accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed still awaits a trial 23 years after his capture.
The attacks changed global air travel, prompted new federal surveillance and intelligence-gathering powers and banking regulations, and generated ongoing debate over the balance between security and freedom.
The US Department of Homeland Security, many state anti-terrorism laws and billions of dollars in state and local counter-terrorism funding all are post-9/11 creations.
So, too, is the culture of individual vigilance summed up by the slogan: “If you see something, say something.”
September 11 generated a wave of patriotism in the US that propelled some Americans to join the military, fire departments, police forces or other public agencies. But amid the national unity that many remember, the attacks also fanned mistrust, prejudice and hate crimes directed at Muslims.
In the quarter-century since, Muslim Americans have played a growing role in public life from statehouses to congress to New York City Hall, where Zohran Mamdani is the city’s first Muslim mayor.
He is facing some criticism for planning to attend the anniversary ceremony at ground zero, something his predecessors have done for years.
Some complaints came from Republican ex-governor George Pataki and 9/11 victims’ relatives, who cited among other things past remarks that some of Mr Mamdani’s political associates have made about the attacks. Former mayor Rudy Giuliani, a Republican, also inveighed against Mr Mamdani attending.
Mr Mamdani, a Democrat, responded this week that he loves the city and country and wants the anniversary to focus on victims’ families, first responders and New Yorkers who helped one another after the attacks, which he called a “horrific act of terror”. The 34-year-old mayor was an elementary school pupil in New York on September 11 2001.
The day is not a federal holiday in the US, but congress has designated it both Patriot Day and a National Day of Service and Remembrance.
Police Officer Casey Kloepfer plans to spend time at the Brooklyn station house where his father, Officer Ronald Kloepfer, reported to work that day before being called to the World Trade Centre. He did not make it home.
Casey Kloepfer was only four, but he grew up hearing about his father’s affinity for helping people and for a job that enabled him to do so. He became an officer this past June.
“It’s big footsteps to fill, but it’s definitely something that I take very seriously and want to continue to honour him and be the best police officer I can,” he said this week.
The 29-year-old wears his father’s badge number and even has joined the New York Police Department lacrosse team, which his father founded.
“One appropriate way to remember is by serving,” says Jay Winuk, who lost his brother Glenn Winuk and then co-founded the volunteer organisation 9/11 Day with friend David Paine.
The group helps people find meal-packing and other volunteer opportunities and this year arranged for dozens of Times Square billboards to pause their advertising at 9.11am local time (2.11pm BST) on Friday.
Instead, they will simply display the time.
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