By JENNIFER PELTZ
NEW YORK (AP) — Americans are commemorating the 25th anniversary of , remembering the shock, the dead and the sweeping consequences of the al-Qaida attacks on symbols of U.S. might and prosperity.
Friday’s milestone anniversary brings 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 U.S. adults remember as the most historic event of their lifetime, .
For others it’s an occasion for private reflection — or, in many schools, — about but left nearly 3,000 dead and a decadeslong trail of aftermath, from to far-flung wars.
Police Officer Casey Kloepfer plans to spend time Friday at the Brooklyn station house where his father, Officer Ronald Kloepfer, reported to work that day before being called to the World Trade Center. He didn’t make it home.
Casey Kloepfer was only 4, 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.
“Itap big footsteps to fill, but itap definitely something that I take very seriously and want to continue to honor him and be the best police officer I can,” he said by phone 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 dad founded.
Trump to attend Pentagon observance
On Sept. 11, 2001, extremists hijacked four commercial jets and crashed them into New York’s World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
The impacts brought down the World Trade Center’s twin towers — icons of U.S. economic power, and among the tallest buildings on Earth — and blew a hole in the Pentagon, the U.S. military’s fortress-like headquarters near Washington. The fourth plane also was headed for the nation’s 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, President said at this week. The Republican, who was in his native New York on Sept. 11 and has often , plans to attend .
Former President George W. Bush, who was in office on 9/11, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Joe Biden and current Vice President convened for the observance at the National Sept. 11 Memorial in New York, where the hourslong reading of all the victims’ names began with the tolling of a bell and a moment of silence. Other administration officials headed 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.
At ground zero, a new tribute to those who fell ill
հ徱پDzԲ, at the New York commemoration, where victims’ relatives read aloud the long list of names, punctuated with moments of silence at key points in the attack timeline. A crowd of 9/11 family members watched, many holding aloft photos of loved ones who perished a quarter-century ago.
For the first time, this year’s ceremony will add a silent moment to honor 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. about how many people developed health problems linked to the dust.
It’s a reminder of how the attacks’ long shadow has reached into many corners of life in the U.S. and beyond.
The U.S.-led included invasions of and Afghanistan — the latter Washington’s — and in an international network of secret CIA prisons. The U.S. found and killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden in Pakistan in 2011, but accused پ 23 years after his capture.
The attacks changed U.S. , prompted new and intelligence-gathering powers and , and generated ongoing . The , many and billions of dollars in state and local all are post-9/11 creations.
So, too, is the culture of individual vigilance summed up by the slogan “ .”
Unity, mistrust and scrutiny of New York’s mayor
Sept. 11 generated a wave of patriotism 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 .
In the quarter-century since, Muslim Americans have played a from statehouses to Congress to New York City Hall, where Zohran Mamdani is the city’s first Muslim mayor. Yet he faced some criticism for attending the anniversary ceremony at ground zero, something his predecessors have done for years.
Some complaints came from Republican ex-Gov. George Pataki and 9/11 victims’ relatives, who cited among other things past remarks that some of Mamdani’s political associates have made about the attacks. Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a Republican, also inveighed against Mamdani attending, though the two shook hands Friday as they and other officials awaited the start of the observance.
Mamdani, a Democrat, said earlier 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 student in New York on 9/11.
Sept. 11 isn’t a federal holiday, but Congress has designated it both Patriot Day and a National Day of Service and Remembrance.
“One appropriate way to remember is by serving,” says Jay Winuk, who lost his brother Glenn Winuk and then co-founded the volunteer organization 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 9:11 a.m. Friday.
Instead, they will simply display the time.
