25 years after the deadliest terrorist attacks on American soil, the United States paused on Friday to remember the 2,977 people killed on September 11, 2001.
The White House led national observances under the theme “We Will Never Forget,” with President Donald Trump attending a ceremony at the Pentagon while Vice President JD Vance represented the administration at Ground Zero in New York.
The attacks, carried out by al-Qaeda hijackers who crashed commercial airliners into the World Trade Center towers in New York, the Pentagon near Washington, and a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after passengers fought back on United Flight 93, killed nearly 3,000 people and reshaped global security, foreign policy, and daily life. Of the victims, 2,753 died in New York, 184 at the Pentagon, and 40 on Flight 93.
In a proclamation issued this week designating September 11 as Patriot Day 2026, Trump called for American flags to fly at half-staff in honour of the victims.
“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,” the proclamation stated. “The passage of time must never dim what will forever burn bright in the conscience of our Nation.”
On social media, the White House reinforced the message: “A quarter of a century has passed since September 11, 2001, when the peace of our Nation was shattered by terrorists. Today, we remember the 2,977 precious lives taken from us, honor the heroes who answered the call, & keep their families in the heart of our Nation. … We will never forget.”
Trump, a native New Yorker who was in the city on the day of the attacks, attended the Pentagon ceremony with First Lady Melania Trump. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other military leaders also participated. The event included the reading of the names of those killed at the Pentagon and a wreath-laying. Unlike the New York memorial, which has barred political speeches since 2012 to keep the focus non-partisan, the Pentagon ceremony allowed the president to deliver remarks.
Vance attended the annual ceremony at the National September 11 Memorial in Lower Manhattan alongside former presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden, the first time all living former presidents gathered together for the anniversary. Family members read the names of the victims, and moments of silence marked the times the planes struck and the towers fell. For the first time, a seventh moment of silence honoured those who have died in the years since from 9/11-related illnesses caused by toxic dust and debris.
Other administration officials attended the ceremony in Shanksville, ensuring White House representation at all three attack sites.
Earlier in the week, Trump hosted an event on the Ellipse near the White House organised by the Tunnel to Towers Foundation. A massive 21-foot steel beam recovered from the South Tower of the World Trade Center, which had toured the country, was displayed. Trump posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Welles Crowther, the equity trader known as the “Man in the Red Bandana” who guided people to safety, and announced a Coast Guard cutter would be named for fallen firefighter Jeffrey Palazzo.
The anniversary underscored both remembrance and the long shadow of the attacks. The wars that followed in Afghanistan and Iraq, expanded surveillance powers, changes to air travel, and ongoing debates over security versus civil liberties continue to shape policy. Thousands of first responders and survivors have since died from related illnesses, a toll still being counted.
Across the country and around the world, bells tolled, flags flew at half-staff, and communities held their own vigils. For international observers, the day served as a reminder of a moment that united much of the world in solidarity with the United States while also launching two decades of conflict whose consequences still echo from Kabul to the Middle East and beyond.
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