US, Maryland communities mark 25 years since the Sept. 11 attacks

NEW YORK — Americans commemorated the 25th anniversary of 9/11 on Friday, remembering the shock, those lost and the sweeping consequences of the al-Qaida attacks on symbols of U.S. might and prosperity.

The milestone anniversary brought memorial rituals — wreath-laying, flag-flying, moments of silence, vigils and readings of victims’ names — and volunteer projects to mark a day that about half of U.S. adults remember as the most historic event of their lifetime, according to a new poll.

On Sept. 11, 2001, al-Qaida extremists hijacked four commercial jets and crashed them into New York’s World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, killing nearly 3,000 people.

Elsie Caldwell carried a photograph of her son Kenny Caldwell to the trade center to hear his name and all the others read aloud Friday morning. She last spoke to him that morning a quarter-century ago.

“Mom, I just want to let you know that I love you,” Caldwell said he told her in a final phone call. His remains, like those of many other victims, have never been recovered.

Trump attends Pentagon observance

The attacks brought down the World Trade Center’s twin towers — icons of U.S. economic power, and among the tallest buildings in the world — and blew a hole in the Pentagon, the U.S. military’s fortress-like headquarters near Washington. The fourth plane was headed for Washington, officials concluded, but the aircraft went down in Pennsylvania after passengers and crew members stormed the cockpit and fought the hijackers.

“Sept. 11 reminded us of the terrible power of hate,” President Donald Trump said Friday at the Pentagon’s anniversary ceremony Friday.

“The 25 years since have shown us the even greater power of the American spirit to endure and prevail, and to win,” added the Republican, who was in his native New York on 9/11.

Former President George W. Bush, who was in office on 9/11, and ex-Presidents Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Joe Biden and current Vice President JD Vance convened for the observance at the National Sept. 11 Memorial in New York. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick wiped away a tear as he revisited the place where the attacks killed 658 of his then-colleagues — including his brother, Gary Lutnick — at the investment firm Cantor Fitzgerald.

Other administration officials went to the Flight 93 National Memorial in Pennsylvania.

At ground zero, a new tribute to those who fell ill

For Angilic Casalduc, attending the New York commemoration “helps to show you’re not alone.” She lost her mother, Vivian Casalduc.

“There’s no timeline for grief, and unfortunately, no one can say how can you can grieve, but coming here once a year makes it feel just a little bit better,” she said.

Traditionally, there are no political speeches at the ground zero commemoration, where victims’ relatives read aloud the long list of names and added personal messages. They thanked first responders and the military, invoked religious faith, appealed for national unity and touched on the U.S. relationship with Saudi Arabia. The kingdom was the homeland of most of the hijackers but denied any involvement in the attacks.

Mostly, relatives spoke of, and to, loved ones — who some were too young to remember.

“You dreamed my whole life for me, and you only got eight months of it,” said Trisha Pakkala, who lost her mother, Deepa Pakkala.

Kiersten Haub, who was 16 months old when the attacks killed her father, firefighter Michael Helmut Haub, said: “I carry you through every milestone.”

Besides moments of silence at key points in the attack timeline, this year’s ceremony added another moment to honor people who were exposed to the clouds of toxic dust released by the twin towers’ fiery collapse and have since died of cancer and other illnesses. Questions remain about how many people developed health problems linked to the dust.

Maryland remembers

Communities across Maryland also took time to honor the fallen and remember the harrowing day.

Harford County paused for a county-wide moment of silence Friday morning to honor the victims of the 9/11 attacks, including two of its own who died that day, according to WJZ, a media partner of The Baltimore Banner.

Retired Staff Sgt. Willie Troy lived at Aberdeen Proving Ground and was working at the Pentagon when the plane struck the west side of the building. Joseph Maggitti of Abingdon was at the North Tower for a meeting on the 49th floor.

On Friday morning, the Baltimore County Fire Department and Police Department honored the hundreds of first responders killed in the attacks, plus the hundreds who have died from 9/11-related illnesses since.

The bell outside Fire Station 10 in Parkville tolled 343 times.

“One for each of the heroes that were lost on that fateful day,” said Baltimore County Fire Chief Joseph Dixon.

Baltimore County Executive Kathy Klausmeier added, “We also honor all those who are killed in the Twin Towers and at the Pentagon, as well as the passengers and crew members.”

Friday’s ceremony in Anne Arundel County was a reminder that, for many local families and first responders, the impact of 9/11 remains deeply personal.

Every Sept. 11, Louis Jerez, of Pasadena, has attended the ceremony holding a poster of his cousin, Angel Louis Juarbe Jr. The New York City firefighter was helping people evacuate when the South Tower collapsed.

“I kept hope, I went to Yankee Stadium for the memorial … We had to face reality eventually when they found him,” said Jerez.

This year, he brought another picture — this one of his brother, who helped with the recovery at Ground Zero. He died just months ago from illnesses related to toxin exposure.

“He was my baby brother,” Jerez said.

Twenty-five years later, the ceremony honored those killed that day and those who have become sick or died in the years since.

“September 11, therefore, remains not simply an event in history, but a loss whose consequences continue to be felt by families and first responder communities today,” Anne Arundel County Fire Capt. Jennifer Macallair said.

Friday’s ceremony was held in front of the county’s 9/11 memorial, which is made of two steel beams from the World Trade Center that were acquired by the fire department in 2010.

The impact of 9/11 endures

It’s a reminder of how the attacks’ long shadow has reached into many corners of life in the U.S. and beyond.

The U.S.-led global war on terrorism included invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan — the latter became Washington’s longest war — and detentions and harsh interrogation of terror suspects in an international network of secret CIA prisons. The U.S. found and killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden in Pakistan in 2011, but accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed still awaits a trial 23 years after his capture.

The attacks changed U.S. air travel, led to the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, prompted new federal surveillance and intelligence-gathering powers and banking regulations and generated ongoing debate over the balance between security and freedom.

Sept. 11 engendered a culture of individual vigilance summed up by the slogan “ if you see something, say something,” while a wave of patriotism propelled some Americans to join the military, fire departments and police forces.

Casey Kloepfer was 4 when his father, police Officer Ronald Kloepfer, was killed at the trade center. The son became an officer himself this June, wearing his dad’s badge number.

“It’s big footsteps to fill, but it’s definitely something that I take very seriously and want to continue to honor him and be the best police officer I can,” he said by phone this week.

New York’s mayor comes under scrutiny

Amid the post-9/11 calls to service and appeals for national unity, the attacks also fanned mistrust, prejudice and hate crimes directed at Muslims.

In the quarter-century since, Muslim Americans have played a growing role in public life from statehouses to Congress to New York City Hall, where Zohran Mamdani is the city’s first Muslim mayor. Yet he faced some criticism for attending the anniversary ceremony at ground zero.

Republican ex-Gov. George Pataki and 9/11 victims’ relatives cited, among other things, past remarks that some of Mamdani’s political associates have made about the attacks. Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a Republican, also inveighed against Mamdani attending the remembrance, though the two shook hands there Friday.

Mamdani, a Democrat, said this week he loves the city and country and that he wanted the anniversary to focus on victims’ families, first responders and New Yorkers who helped one another after the attacks, which he called a “horrific act of terror.” The 34-year-old mayor, who was born in Uganda to parents of Indian descent, was an elementary school student in New York on 9/11.

One victim’s son and namesake, Michael Massaroli, used his time at the podium Friday to deplore people “using this tragedy to spread hate” against Muslims and others.

“That’s wrong, and that does no honor to the victims here,” he said.

Times Square billboards pause advertisements

Remembrances extended far from the attack sites, including beams of light projecting from New Hampshire’s Mount Washington, a stair climb at Mississippi State University’s football stadium and a ceremony at Honolulu’s 9/11 memorial.

Sept. 11 isn’t a federal holiday, but Congress has designated it both Patriot Day and a National Day of Service and Remembrance.

“One appropriate way to remember is by serving,” says Jay Winuk, who lost his brother Glenn Winuk and then co-founded the organization 9/11 Day with friend David Paine. The group coordinates volunteer opportunities and this year arranged for dozens of Times Square billboards to pause their advertising at 9:11 a.m. Friday.

Instead, they simply displayed the time.

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Associated Press journalists Michael R. Sisak, Anthony Izaguirre and Julie Walker and WJZ reporters Caroline Foreback, Kaicey Baylor and Tara Lynch contributed.