Remembering 9/11: A Nation Marks 25 Years Since the Attacks That Changed America

A Quarter Century of Remembrance

Twenty-five years have passed since the morning of September 11, 2001, when militant Al Qaeda terrorists hijacked four commercial airplanes and carried out coordinated suicide attacks against the United States. Two of the planes were flown into the World Trade Center in New York City, a third struck the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and the fourth crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after passengers fought back. According to the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, 100 million Americans are now too young to remember the day that changed our nation forever.

This week, dozens of ceremonies, tributes, and broadcasts across the country will honor the victims and the first responders who rushed toward danger. As the Memorial & Museum puts it, it is our shared promise, made 25 years ago, to never forget so those born after 9/11 learn its significance and enduring legacy.

The Attacks and the Toll

On that clear Tuesday morning at 8:46 a.m., an American Airlines Boeing 767 loaded with 20,000 gallons of jet fuel crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center. Eighteen minutes later, a second Boeing 767, United Airlines Flight 175, sliced into the south tower. At 9:37 a.m., American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the west side of the Pentagon, killing 125 military personnel and civilians in the building along with all 64 people aboard the airliner. At 10:02 a.m., United Flight 93 crashed in a rural field near Shanksville, killing all 44 people aboard.

The official death toll, after numerous revisions and not including the 19 terrorists, stands at 2,977 people, according to the Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. At the World Trade Center, 2,753 people died, of whom 343 were firefighters. The death toll at the Pentagon was 184, and 40 individuals died outside Shanksville. Hundreds more have since died from illnesses and injuries tied to 9/11.

Because the attacks caused such massive destruction and intensely hot fires, the remains of many victims were never recovered, and others remained unidentifiable. On the first anniversary, the official toll of those killed in New York rested at 2,801, but that number was later amended several times as names were determined to be erroneous, listed twice, or fraudulent.

The Passengers of Flight 93

Aboard United Flight 93, passengers who learned of the earlier attacks through phone calls resolved to rush the hijackers. One passenger, Thomas Burnett, Jr., told his wife over the phone, 'I know we're all going to die. There's three of us who are going to do something about it. I love you, honey.' Another passenger, Todd Beamer, was heard saying 'Are you guys ready? Let's roll' over an open line. Flight attendant Sandy Bradshaw called her husband to explain she had slipped into a galley and was filling pitchers with boiling water, telling him, 'Everyone's running to first class. I've got to go. Bye.'

The Nation Responds

At 9 p.m. on the night of the attacks, President George W. Bush delivered a televised address from the Oval Office, declaring, 'Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America. These acts shatter steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve.' In a reference to the eventual military response, he added, 'We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them.'

Operation Enduring Freedom, the effort to oust the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and destroy Osama bin Laden's terrorist network, began on October 7. In the wake of the attacks, the Homeland Security Act of 2002 created the Department of Homeland Security, signed into law by President George W. Bush on November 25, 2002.

Justice for the Mastermind

Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the September 11 attacks, remained at large until May 2, 2011, when he was killed by US Special Forces during an early morning raid at a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. US intelligence had uncovered the name of one of bin Laden's most trusted couriers around 2007, and by August 2010 had identified the Abbottabad compound, a home worth a reported $1 million surrounded by 12- to 18-foot walls topped by barbed wire and located only about a mile from the Pakistan Military Academy.

A group of 25 Navy SEALs arrived in two Black Hawk helicopters and carried out the raid, which took 40 minutes total. In the last 5 to 10 minutes of the firefight, bin Laden was killed by a gunshot wound to the head. His body was identified by one of his wives, confirmed through facial recognition and a DNA test, and buried at sea off the deck of the USS Carl Vinson within 24 hours according to Islamic law. US Attorney General Eric Holder declared the raid 'lawful, legitimate and appropriate in every way.'

Anniversary Events in New York City

Dozens of events across the week will honor the memories of those killed. The annual remembrance ceremony at Ground Zero will be livestreamed, and family members will read aloud the names of those killed in the 2001 attacks and in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Seven moments of silence will be observed through the morning, the last of them for those who have since died of 9/11-related illnesses and injuries.

The NYPD will dedicate a new remembrance wall at One Police Plaza recognizing close to 500 heroes. That evening, the Mets and Yankees will face off in the Bronx at 6:30 p.m. with a ceremony honoring the anniversary.

The Tribute in Light and National Broadcasts

As the sun sets on Friday, the annual Tribute in Light will illuminate the skies from where the Twin Towers once stood, lasting until dawn Saturday. The Memorial Plaza will open to the public at 3 p.m. For the first time, the Tribute in Light will air in a live national broadcast. Beginning at 8 p.m. Eastern, Disney and its affiliates, in partnership with the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, will air '9/11 Tribute in Light: Live from Lower Manhattan,' hosted by ABC News anchors David Muir, Robin Roberts, and Diane Sawyer across ABC, Disney+, Hulu, National Geographic, and ABC News Live.

News networks will provide extensive morning coverage from all three sites, with the times below given in Eastern Time. C-SPAN's Washington Journal begins at 6 a.m. CBS Mornings co-hosts Gayle King and Nate Burleson join Tony Dokoupil at Ground Zero, with Norah O'Donnell at the Pentagon at 7 a.m., followed by a 90-minute CBS News Special Report at 8:30 a.m. CNN's coverage begins at 7 a.m. with Kate Bolduan anchoring from Memorial Plaza. Fox News coverage begins with Fox & Friends co-hosts Brian Kilmeade, Ainsley Earhardt, and Lawrence Jones from Jersey City, while at 9 a.m. Bill Hemmer and Dana Perino broadcast from Brookfield Place. On NBC, Savannah Guthrie and Craig Melvin anchor a special edition of Today beginning at 7 a.m., with a Special Report at 8:30 a.m.