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Commemorations across the United States on Thursday included name readings at the 9/11 Memorial plaza in New York, a drone light show forming the outline of the Twin Towers over New York Harbor using one drone for each victim and moments of silence at the three crash sites, according to BBC News. The primary New York event began at 8:30 a.m. local time with the first silence observed at 8:46 a.m. to mark the impact of the first plane on the North Tower. Ceremonies at the Pentagon and the Flight 93 National Memorial in Pennsylvania followed similar formats with wreath-layings and speeches. A separate event took place in London to honor the victims.
Many individuals used the anniversary to share personal accounts of where they were when the attacks occurred. Felicia Rios told USA TODAY she had given birth to her first child the day before in a New Mexico hospital and was holding her newborn son while watching the second plane strike the World Trade Center on television. “I literally was there holding my new son and just thinking, ‘What kind of world did I bring this kid into?’ It was very sad, and just terrifying,” she said. Hal Hinton, a pilot for American Airlines at the time, learned of the news during a layover in Honolulu and immediately worried about his wife, a United Airlines flight attendant whose schedule he could not recall.
A Pentagon worker who experienced the attack firsthand described its enduring effects to USA TODAY. She reported arriving at her office the next day to find black soot covering surfaces and a pervasive smell of smoke while the building remained eerily quiet. The woman has since avoided working on September 11, steering clear of federal buildings and public transit on that date. “It just really affects me,” she said. “It’s just so heartbreaking.”
The attacks killed 2,977 people from more than 90 countries, including 441 first responders, according to the 9/11 Memorial Museum. In the years that followed, cancer certifications linked to exposure among responders, survivors and area residents climbed from 3,204 in 2015 to 57,044 this year, World Trade Center Health Program figures show. More than 9,400 people enrolled in the program have died from related illnesses, a toll that now exceeds the number killed on September 11 itself.
First responders who participated in recovery efforts often delayed addressing their trauma for years or decades. NYPD Chief of Transit Joseph Gulotta, then a sergeant, was at home with his young son when his mother alerted him to the attacks and he responded to the scene, the New York Daily News reported. He later acknowledged struggling to discuss seeing people jump from the towers or his own sense that he might die that day. Gulotta only sought professional help after his retirement more than two decades later.
The anniversary has also highlighted how the events reshaped national security protocols and public awareness. Airport screening procedures expanded dramatically in the aftermath while the attacks prompted military engagements in Afghanistan and Iraq that defined U.S. foreign policy for the next two decades, according to multiple historical assessments. An estimated 100 million Americans were either born after 2001 or too young to remember the day, prompting renewed efforts through memorials and educational programs to preserve firsthand accounts for future generations. Organizers of the 2,977-drone display collaborated with survivors, victims’ families and first responders to ensure the tribute reflected their experiences.
