09/12/2026
September 11, 2001 — A Tribute of Remembrance
Today, we gather to remember a morning that began like any other Tuesday morning in America, but became a day our nation would never forget.
September 11, 2001.
For many of us, simply hearing that date brings back memories.
We may remember where we were.
We may remember who we were with.
We may remember turning on the television and trying to understand what we were seeing.
It was a clear September morning.
People were going to work. Children were going to school. Families were saying goodbye for the day. Travelers were boarding airplanes for business trips, vacations, and visits with loved ones.
No one knew that within a few short hours, thousands of lives would be lost and the course of American history would be changed.
That morning, 19 terrorists associated with the extremist organization al-Qaeda hijacked four commercial airplanes traveling from the East Coast toward California.
The first was American Airlines Flight 11, traveling from Boston to Los Angeles.
At 8:46 in the morning, Flight 11 struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City.
At first, people across the country did not know what had happened. Some believed it might have been a terrible accident.
News cameras began broadcasting live images of smoke pouring from the tower.
Firefighters, police officers, paramedics, Port Authority officers, and other emergency personnel immediately began responding.
While thousands of people inside the towers began evacuating, first responders began going in.
They climbed stairwell after stairwell carrying heavy equipment while frightened office workers were coming down.
Many of those responders knew they were entering an extremely dangerous situation.
Still, they went.
Seventeen minutes later, the country realized this was not an accident.
At 9:03 a.m., United Airlines Flight 175 struck the South Tower of the World Trade Center.
Millions of Americans watched the second plane hit on live television.
In that moment, there was no longer any doubt.
America was under attack.
Inside New York City, an enormous rescue operation was underway.
Approximately 2,000 police officers and nearly 1,000 firefighters were deployed in response to the attacks at the World Trade Center.
Some helped evacuate office workers.
Some treated the injured.
Some directed people away from the danger.
Others continued climbing upward into the towers, trying to reach people who were trapped.
Hundreds of firefighters, police officers, paramedics, and other emergency workers would never come home that night.
But the attacks were not limited to New York.
At 9:37 a.m., American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense.
The impact caused massive destruction and fire.
Military personnel, civilian employees, emergency responders, and ordinary citizens immediately began helping one another escape.
Across the nation, confusion and fear continued to grow.
There was still another hijacked airplane in the sky.
United Airlines Flight 93 had taken off from Newark, New Jersey, headed toward San Francisco.
Passengers and crew members aboard Flight 93 began making telephone calls to family members and others on the ground.
Through those conversations, they learned what had happened in New York and at the Pentagon.
They understood that their airplane was likely intended to be used as another weapon.
And so they made an extraordinary decision.
They decided to fight back.
Passengers and crew members rushed the hijackers in an attempt to regain control of the airplane.
At 10:03 a.m., Flight 93 crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Everyone aboard was killed.
But because those passengers and crew members fought back, the plane never reached its intended target in Washington, D.C.
Their courage almost certainly saved many other lives.
Back in New York City, another tragedy was unfolding.
At 9:59 a.m., after burning for less than an hour, the South Tower collapsed.
A massive cloud of dust and debris swept through the streets of Lower Manhattan.
People ran for safety.
First responders continued searching for survivors and helping the injured.
Then, at 10:28 a.m., the North Tower collapsed.
The two towers that had defined the New York City skyline for decades were gone.
From the moment the first plane struck the North Tower until its collapse, only 102 minutes had passed.
In less than two hours, the country had changed.
For the first time in American aviation history, the Federal Aviation Administration ordered aircraft across the country to land, effectively shutting down civilian air traffic in the United States as authorities worked to prevent additional attacks.
By the end of September 11, the scale of the loss was almost impossible to comprehend.
2,977 innocent people were killed in the attacks.
They came from more than 90 nations.
2,753 people were killed in New York.
184 people were killed at the Pentagon.
And 40 passengers and crew members were killed aboard Flight 93.
Among those who died were people of nearly every imaginable background.
They were mothers and fathers.
Husbands and wives.
Sons and daughters.
Brothers and sisters.
Friends.
Coworkers.
Military personnel.
Office workers.
Pilots and flight attendants.
Tourists.
Police officers.
Paramedics.
And firefighters.
September 11 also resulted in the largest loss of rescue personnel in American history.
343 members of the New York City Fire Department were killed.
23 New York City Police Department officers were killed.
37 Port Authority Police Department officers were killed.
Others from additional emergency and law-enforcement agencies also gave their lives.
They did not know the people they were trying to save.
They did not ask what political party they belonged to, where they came from, what religion they practiced, how much money they had, or what they looked like.
They simply knew that someone needed help.
So they went toward the danger while thousands of others were trying to escape it.
And the heroism of September 11 was not limited to people wearing uniforms.
Office workers carried injured coworkers down flights of stairs.
Strangers held hands as they escaped.
People opened businesses and homes to those covered in dust.
Medical workers prepared hospitals for thousands of patients.
Boat captains began carrying people away from Lower Manhattan by water.
Volunteers arrived to donate blood, food, clothing, equipment, and their time.
Across the country, people stood in long lines to give blood.
Churches opened their doors.
Communities held prayer services and candlelight vigils.
American flags appeared on homes, businesses, bridges, porches, and cars.
For a time, people who had never spoken to one another before began asking a simple question:
“How can I help?”
That spirit became one of the lasting memories of September 11.
It was a day filled with unimaginable evil and devastating loss.
But it was also a day when the world witnessed extraordinary courage.
We saw firefighters climbing stairs when every instinct would have told them to run the other way.
We saw police officers directing people to safety.
We saw military personnel helping coworkers from a burning Pentagon.
We saw passengers aboard Flight 93 realize what was happening and choose to fight back.
We saw strangers helping strangers.
And in the days and weeks that followed, rescue efforts became recovery efforts.
At Ground Zero in New York, firefighters, police officers, construction workers, ironworkers, engineers, medical workers, volunteers, and many others worked around the clock.
The recovery operation at the World Trade Center site continued for months.
And the effects of September 11 did not end when the fires stopped burning.
Thousands of survivors, first responders, recovery workers, and families have continued to live with the physical and emotional effects of that day.
Many first responders and recovery workers later developed serious illnesses linked to the toxic dust and debris at Ground Zero.
Families grew older without someone they loved.
Children grew up without parents.
Parents lived without sons and daughters.
Spouses learned how to continue life without the person who had once stood beside them.
That is why remembering September 11 is about more than remembering buildings or airplanes.
It is about remembering people.
Every number represents a person.
A face.
A name.
A story.
Someone who had plans for that evening.
Someone who had birthdays ahead of them.
Someone who expected to go home.
Today, 25 years later, an entire generation has grown up without a personal memory of September 11, 2001.
That makes remembering even more important.
Those who lived through that day carry a responsibility to tell the story.
To explain what happened.
To remember those who died.
To honor those who ran toward danger.
And to remember the remarkable unity that followed.
At the National September 11 Memorial in New York City today, the footprints of the original Twin Towers contain two enormous reflecting pools.
Around those pools are the names of those who were killed.
Those names remind us that September 11 is not simply a chapter in a history book.
It happened to real people.
Real families.
Real communities.
And every year, the words are spoken again:
We will never forget.
We will never forget the lives that were taken.
We will never forget the firefighters climbing the stairs.
We will never forget the police officers and paramedics rushing into danger.
We will never forget the people at the Pentagon.
We will never forget the passengers and crew of Flight 93 who fought back.
We will never forget the families who waited for phone calls that never came.
And we will never forget the countless acts of compassion that showed us who Americans could be during one of our darkest hours.
As we remember September 11 today, may we also remember one of the most important lessons that followed it:
Life is precious.
Tomorrow is never guaranteed.
Our differences seem much smaller when we remember how quickly everything can change.
So may we honor those who died not only with our words, but with the way we live.
May we help our neighbors.
May we thank those who serve.
May we tell the people we love that we love them.
May we choose kindness when it would be easier to argue.
May we pray for those who still carry the pain of that day.
And may we teach future generations what happened so that the names, the stories, the courage, and the sacrifices are never forgotten.
Today, on the 25th anniversary of September 11, 2001, we remember.
We remember the 2,977 lives lost.
We remember the heroes.
We remember the survivors.
We remember the first responders.
We remember the families.
We remember the courage.
We remember the unity.
And we remember a promise made by millions of Americans twenty-five years ago:
Never forget.
May God comfort those who still mourn.
May God bless those who answered the call to serve.
May God protect those who continue to serve today.
And may God bless the United States of America.
We will never forget September 11, 2001.
