09/11/2026
Twenty-five years later, we remember.
There are moments in our lives that time simply cannot erase. For so many Americans, September 11, 2001 is one of them.
We remember where we were. We remember watching in disbelief as the events of that morning unfolded. We remember the fear and uncertainty, the heartbreaking images, and the realization that our country…and our lives…had changed.
Today, we remember the 2,977 lives taken at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and aboard Flight 93. We remember the first responders who ran toward unimaginable danger while others were trying to escape it. We remember the families who said goodbye that morning without knowing it would be for the last time.
And we remember what followed.
In the days after September 11, Americans came together in a way that many of us will never forget. Flags appeared on homes and businesses. Strangers helped strangers. Communities gathered. And across our country, men and women raised their right hands and volunteered to defend a nation that had been attacked.
For an entire generation of service members, September 11 became deeply personal. Some were already serving. Some would enlist because of what happened that day. Others were children on 9/11 who would grow up hearing its stories and eventually answer the same call.
They would serve in Afghanistan, Iraq, and around the world for more than two decades. Thousands would never come home. Others returned forever changed, carrying wounds both visible and unseen. Their families served and sacrificed alongside them.
Twenty-five years have passed. Children have grown into adults. A new generation has come of age with no memory of that September morning.
That makes our responsibility to remember even greater.
Today, we remember the innocent lives taken from us. We honor the courage of those who rushed toward danger. We remember those who answered our nation’s call in the years that followed, and those who gave their lives doing so.
We remember those we lost.
We honor those who answered.
We will never forget.
