25 years later: Ground Zero Ceremony for victims’ families

Audio By Carbonatix

(The Center Square) – Families of victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing are gathered alongside survivors and first responders Friday to remember those who were lost.

Every year following Sept. 11, 2001, a commemorative ceremony is held at Ground Zero, where the twin towers of the World Trade Center used to stand. Families read the names of all 2,977 deceased and observe six moments of silence throughout. 

The first moment of silence occurs at 8:46 a.m., when American Airlines Flight 11 struck the north tower. The second comes just 17 minutes later, when United Airlines Flight 175 struck the south tower. Two more follow at 9:37 and 9:59, marking the moments a plane struck the Pentagon and the south tower collapsed. The final two occur at 10:03 and 10:28, when the fourth plane crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pa., and the north tower collapsed.

This year will be the first that a seventh moment of silence is observed, in remembrance of those who have lost their lives since the attack due to illnesses developed from exposure to the wreckage and environmental damage. 

Select invited guests also attend, including former and current presidents and New York government officials. This year, that includes Vice President JD Vance, who attended while President Donald Trump attended events in Washington, D.C.; all four living former presidents; and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor of New York Zohran Mamdani. 

Last week, Mamdani became the first New York City mayor to formally designate Sept. 11 an annual citywide Day of Remembrance and Service, even as more than 100,000 people signed a petition from a 9/11 widower asking him not to attend the Ground Zero ceremony due to “public positions, associations, and responses to rhetoric” that the petition describes as hostile to shared American values.