Source: Fox News
Summary
The nation is marking the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks with ceremonies at the 9/11 Memorial in New York, the Pentagon, and the Flight 93 National Memorial in Pennsylvania. Officials and survivors reflected on the events of that day, including retired Maj. Gen. Bert Mizusawa, who described witnessing the Pentagon attack. President Donald Trump is expected to attend the Pentagon ceremony, while New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Zohran Mamdani will be at the World Trade Center site. Former presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden are also expected to attend the New York ceremony.
Our Reading
As expected, the matter has reached another stage.
Officials gather at sites of tragedy to speak of loss and memory.
Politicians appear at ceremonies, some with personal ties to the events.
Names are read, speeches are given, and the day is marked with solemnity.
Each year, the same rituals repeat, as if the past must be relived to be remembered.
Author: Evan Null
9/11 Ceremonies
Ceremonies are taking place at the 9/11 Memorial in New York, the Pentagon, and the Flight 93 National Memorial in Pennsylvania. These events mark the 25th anniversary of the attacks, when 19 al-Qaida terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners and attacked the United States.
Officials and others with memories of that day reflected on what they witnessed and what they lost. Retired Maj. Gen. Bert Mizusawa, who served in senior Army positions at the Pentagon before 9/11, worked as a senior Pentagon official in the time leading up to 9/11 and knew several colleagues who perished that day.
Mizusawa said he was watching coverage of the attack on the Twin Towers from his office when reporters broke in to say the Pentagon had been targeted. He described seeing the plume of smoke rising from the attack on the Pentagon and noted that the smoke lingered for days.
Warner similarly recalled watching the attacks unfold and seeing smoke rise from the Pentagon that day. He said on the 25th anniversary of the attacks, the nation remembers the lives lost at the Pentagon, in Pennsylvania, and in New York City, and honors the first responders who saved countless lives.
President Donald Trump is expected to attend the Pentagon’s ceremony. He has attended 9/11 observances at each of the three attack sites in different years. In New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Zohran Mamdani are expected to attend the ceremony and reading-of-names at the World Trade Center site.
Personal Reflections
Retired Maj. Gen. Bert Mizusawa, the GOP nominee for Senate against Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., said he played a role in hiring Army Lt. Gen. Timothy Maude, the highest-ranking military officer killed in the Pentagon attack. He also recently met with the lone survivor of the Pentagon’s staff section that took a direct hit from American Airlines Flight 77.
Mizusawa reflected that the low-rise multi-ringed structure of the Pentagon saved many lives compared to the World Trade Center buildings. He described the structure as the “virtual opposite form” of the twin towers.
Warner, who also recalled watching the attacks unfold, said the nation remembers the lives lost at the Pentagon, in Pennsylvania, and in New York City. He praised the bravery of first responders who saved countless lives.
Blakeman, Hochul’s opponent, said the day changed his home state and his family forever. He lost his nephew Tommy, a New York State Courts officer, who was killed while giving first aid to a victim when Tower Two collapsed on him.
Tommy was reportedly rendering aid to a victim when Tower Two collapsed on him. Blakeman said the pain has never completely gone away and that the nation must never forget the danger facing the country from those with anti-American values.
Political Presence
President Donald Trump is expected to attend the Pentagon’s ceremony. He has attended 9/11 observances at each of the three attack sites in different years. In New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Zohran Mamdani are expected to attend the ceremony and reading-of-names at the World Trade Center site.
Hochul’s opponent, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, said the day changed his home state and his family forever. He lost his nephew Tommy, a New York State Courts officer, who was killed while giving first aid to a victim when Tower Two collapsed on him.
Tommy was reportedly rendering aid to a victim when Tower Two collapsed on him. Blakeman said the pain has never completely gone away and that the nation must never forget the danger facing the country from those with anti-American values.
Former presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden are expected to attend the 25th anniversary ceremony at the 9/11 Memorial in New York. Hillary Clinton, then a New York senator, is remembered from a photo with then-Gov. George Pataki and then-Mayor Rudolph Giuliani walking through the rubble after the attacks.
Additional Trump administration officials will attend the third ceremony in Somerset County, Pennsylvania. Last year, Veterans Affairs Secretary Douglas Collins represented the administration there.
Memorial Details
The memorial is managed by the Department of the Interior, which said it will hold a reading of the names at 10:03 a.m. ET, the time United Flight 93 crashed into a field near U.S. Route 30 after passengers fought back against the hijackers.
Fox News Digital reached out to Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Pennsylvania State Treasurer Stacy Garrity – Shapiro’s GOP opponent this fall – for information on their plans for the day and comment on the 25th anniversary remembrance.
Garrity will be in attendance at the Flight 93 Memorial in her official capacity as Pennsylvania State Treasurer, her campaign said. Speaking as the GOP’s gubernatorial nominee, Garrity told Fox News Digital she recalls September 11, 2001, as a bright September morning in the commonwealth that she and others thought would be a run-of-the-mill weekday.
“But in the blink of an eye, in the skies over Lower Manhattan, along the shores of the Potomac, and in the fields of western Pennsylvania, our world was forever changed,” Garrity said. She quoted Flight 93 victim Todd Beamer, who called out “Let’s roll” as he led an effort to retake control of the plane from the terrorists.
Garrity added that 25 years later, may God bless the heroes of Flight 93, the first responders to the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and every American who answered the call to serve that day and in the years to follow.
Public and Political Response
9/11 families are pushing to ban Zohran Mamdani from the 25th anniversary ceremony over his “hostile” record. GOP senators have rallied behind the families in this effort, calling Mamdani a “disgrace.”
Hochul said the attacks reshaped New York and that every year on the anniversary, New Yorkers feel the weight of unimaginable tragedy and honor the lives lost. She praised the courage, sacrifice, and bravery of New Yorkers in the aftermath of 9/11.
She added that New Yorkers showed the world what courage, sacrifice, and bravery looked like. Fox News Digital also reached out to Mamdani for comment.
Trump’s 9/11 tribute will feature a massive piece of Ground Zero history at the White House. The event highlights the continued presence of 9/11 in political and public life, even as the years pass.
The ceremonies and political statements reflect a national ritual of remembrance, where the past is revisited each year in a way that feels both necessary and expected.
