WESTON-EASTON-REDDING, CT — Weston and Easton will hold three remembrance ceremonies Friday as the communities mark 25 years since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Weston will hold a flag-lowering ceremony at 9 a.m. Friday on the Weston Town Green, 56 Norfield Road.
The community is invited to gather to remember those who lost their lives in the attacks, honor local heroes and first responders and reflect on the unity that followed, according to the town.
In Easton, two ceremonies are planned Friday at the town's Memorial Flagpole and 9/11 Memorial in front of the Easton Public Library.
A brief remembrance ceremony will begin at 8:30 a.m., with First Selectman Dan Lent scheduled to offer remarks.
A larger ceremony will follow at 4:30 p.m., bringing together town officials, first responders, veterans and community members to honor the victims of the attacks and those who responded.
A reception will follow the afternoon ceremony in the Easton Public Library Community Room.
Communities across Connecticut and the country are holding ceremonies this week to commemorate the milestone anniversary.
On Sept. 11, 2001, 19 al-Qaida terrorists hijacked four airplanes, flying two into New York City's World Trade Center and one into the Pentagon. Passengers fought back aboard United Flight 93, which crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The attacks killed 2,977 victims.
The toll has continued to grow in the years since, as thousands of survivors, first responders and people who lived, worked or attended school near the attack sites have developed illnesses linked to toxic exposure during rescue, recovery and cleanup operations.
As is traditional, the names of the 2,977 people killed in the Sept. 11 attacks and six people killed in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing will be read during a ceremony at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in Manhattan.
Four former presidents — Joe Biden, Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton — are expected to attend the 25th-anniversary ceremony. President Donald Trump is expected to attend an observance at the Pentagon, while Vice President JD Vance is expected to represent the administration in New York.
The Ground Zero ceremony will be livestreamed. That evening, the annual Tribute in Light will send twin beams into the sky.
Trump is expected to attend the observance at the Pentagon, where 184 people were killed when American Airlines Flight 77 was hijacked and flown into the building.
At the Flight 93 National Memorial near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, a remembrance ceremony will begin at 8:30 a.m. Friday with the reading of the names of the 40 passengers and crew members killed aboard the flight, the Bells of Remembrance and wreath-layings timed to the four attacks.
A second ceremony is scheduled for 1 p.m.
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