MEDFORD, MA — Communities across Massachusetts will pause Friday to mark 25 years since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, with ceremonies honoring the nearly 3,000 people who were killed and the first responders who risked, and, in many cases, later lost their lives.
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 on the fourth, United Flight 93, which crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The deadliest U.S. terror attack killed 2,977 victims.
While larger observances will be held at the three sites in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Shanksville, Pennsylvania, attacked 25 years ago, Massachusetts events include the following:
Tufts University will host two observances on its Medford/Somerville campus on Friday, beginning with a moment of silence from 8:40 to 9 a.m. A second gathering, "A Time to Remember and Reflect: The 25th Anniversary of Sept. 11th Community Gathering," will take place from 12 to 12:30 p.m. at Goddard Chapel.
The noon gathering will include the Patches for Peace quilt, which was created by Tufts students in the aftermath of the attacks. The 96-square-foot quilt includes contributions from 88 campus groups and was first unveiled at the university in November 2001. The gathering is intended for members of the Tufts community, and an RSVP is requested.
The university held several gatherings in the immediate aftermath of the attacks in 2001. Hundreds of students gathered on the campus quad that evening, while more than 1,000 participated in a candlelight vigil the following night. Students later created the Patches for Peace quilt with messages of peace, love, and unity.
The toll has continued to grow. Thousands of survivors, first responders, and people who lived, worked, or attended school near the attack sites have developed cancers and other illnesses linked to toxic exposure during the rescue, recovery, and cleanup.
Medford has held remembrance ceremonies for the attacks in previous years. The city's 20th anniversary observance in 2021 took place outside City Hall and included Honor Guards from the Medford Police and Fire Departments and a moment of silence at 8:46 a.m., marking the time American Airlines Flight 11 struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Houses of worship throughout the city were also invited to ring their bells at the times each of the four hijacked planes crashed.
Medford also has a Sept. 11 Memorial Garden near the former Medford railroad station. The memorial includes a garden, flagpole, remembrance plaque, and benches dedicated to the attacks.
As is traditional, the names of the 2,977 people killed in the 9/11 attacks and six others who died in the 1993 World Trade Center attack will be read at 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 at the National September 11 Memorial in New York City.
President Donald Trump is not expected at Ground Zero. Vice President JD Vance will represent the administration in New York.
The ceremony will be livestreamed. That evening, the annual Tribute in Light will send twin beams into the sky, accompanied this year by a one-hour national broadcast beginning at 8 p.m. Eastern on ABC, Disney+, Hulu, National Geographic and ABC News Live.
Trump will attend the 9/11 observance at the Pentagon, where 184 people were killed when American Airlines Flight 77 was hijacked and flown into the structure.
Defense and military leaders traditionally gather for a ceremony centered on the memorial's 184 illuminated benches, one for each victim. Details about public access to the Pentagon ceremony and a possible livestream had not yet been posted on the Pentagon Memorial's official webpage on Tuesday.
The Flight 93 National Memorial, near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, begins with an 8:30 a.m. ceremony that includes the reading of the 40 passengers' and crew members' names, the Bells of Remembrance, and wreath-layings timed to the four attacks.
A second ceremony begins at 1 p.m., and both will be livestreamed. A luminaria ceremony is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 12.
Stephen M. Clark, the superintendent of the Flight 93 National Memorial, will lead the morning remembrance events. Confirmed speakers at the afternoon ceremony include Gordie Felt, the brother of Flight 93 passenger Edward P. Felt, and Capt. Morrie Wiener (Ret.), the pilot who flew Flight 93 prior to September 2001.
Trump administration officials are expected to attend and lay wreaths on behalf of the federal government, though top executive leaders are split across other national sites.
Trump hosted first responders and FDNY officials at the White House on Tuesday ahead of the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. The event featured a 16,900-pound steel beam recovered from the World Trade Center's South Tower and carried across the country by the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, a nonprofit created in memory of FDNY firefighter Stephen Siller, who was killed responding to the attacks.
The foundation provides mortgage-free and specially adapted homes to families of fallen or severely injured first responders and military members, assists homeless veterans and supports 9/11 education and remembrance programs. Its 10,500-mile "Steel Across America" tour has taken the beam to more than 35 cities in at least 21 states and will conclude Friday at Ground Zero.
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