25 years later, 9/11 memories endure as nation gathers to honor nearly 3,000 lives lost
Ceremonies at the 9/11 Memorial in New York, the Pentagon and the Flight 93 National Memorial in Pennsylvania will take place Friday as the nation marks the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, when 19 al Qaeda terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners and attacked the United States.
Officials and others with memories of that day reflected on what they witnessed and what they lost in some cases as the nation mourns anew.
Retired Maj. Gen. Bert Mizusawa, who served in senior Army positions at the Pentagon before 9/11, worked as a senior Pentagon official in the time leading up to 9/11 and knew several colleagues who perished that day.
On that Tuesday, Mizusawa said he was watching coverage of the attack on the Twin Towers from his office when reporters broke in to say the Pentagon had been targeted.
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"I looked out my window and was able to observe the plume of smoke rising from the attack on the Pentagon," Mizusawa said. "My normal commute took me directly past the section that was destroyed, and the smoke lingered for days."
Mizusawa, the GOP nominee for Senate against Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., said he also played a role in hiring Army Lt. Gen. Timothy Maude, the highest-ranking military officer killed in the Pentagon attack.
He added he just recently met with the lone survivor of the Pentagon's staff section that took a direct hit from American Airlines Flight 77 that day.
"I reflected that, as tragic as the attack on the Pentagon was, the low-rise multi-ringed structure saved many lives as it was the virtual opposite form of structure compared to the World Trade Center buildings," he said.
Warner similarly recalled watching the attacks unfold and seeing smoke rise from the Pentagon that day.
"I vividly remember the September 11 attacks, and I watched the smoke rise above the Pentagon...," he said. "On the 25th anniversary of these tragic attacks, we remember the lives lost at the Pentagon, in Pennsylvania, and in New York City, and our brave first responders whose heroic actions saved countless lives."
Also in Virginia, President Donald Trump is expected to attend the Pentagon’s ceremony. Trump has attended 9/11 observances at each of the three attack sites in different years.
In New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Zohran Mamdani are expected to attend the solemn ceremony and reading-of-names at the World Trade Center site.
Hochul’s opponent, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, told Fox News Digital that that day changed his home state and his family forever.
"The pain has never completely gone away," Blakeman said. "My nephew Tommy was murdered while he was giving first aid to a severely burned woman. I lost many colleagues and friends on that day. We must never forget the danger facing our country from those with anti-American values."
Tommy, a New York State Courts officer, was reportedly rendering aid to a victim when Tower Two collapsed on him.
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"The terrorist attacks on September 11 forever reshaped our city and state, and every year on the anniversary New Yorkers feel the weight of unimaginable tragedy and honor the lives lost," Hochul said, reflecting on the day.
"In the aftermath of 9/11, New Yorkers showed the world what courage, sacrifice and bravery looked like," she added. Fox News Digital also reached out to Mamdani for comment.
Former presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Joe Biden are expected to attend the 25th anniversary ceremony at the 9/11 Memorial in New York.
Hillary Clinton, then a New York senator, is remembered from a photo with then-Gov. George Pataki and then-Mayor Rudolph Giuliani walking through the rubble after the attacks.
Additional Trump administration officials will attend the third ceremony in Somerset County, Pennsylvania. Last year, Veterans Affairs Secretary Douglas Collins represented the administration there.
The memorial is managed by the Department of the Interior, which said it will hold a reading of the names at 10:03 a.m. ET, the time United Flight 93 crashed into a field near U.S. Route 30 after passengers fought back against the hijackers.
Fox News Digital reached out to Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Pennsylvania State Treasurer Stacy Garrity – Shapiro’s GOP opponent this fall -- for information on their plans for the day and comment on the 25th anniversary remembrance.
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Garrity will be in attendance at the Flight 93 Memorial in her official capacity as Pennsylvania State Treasurer, her campaign said.
Speaking as the GOP's gubernatorial nominee, Garrity told Fox News Digital she recalls September 11, 2001, as a bright September morning in the commonwealth that she and others thought would be a run-of-the-mill weekday.
"But in the blink of an eye, in the skies over Lower Manhattan, along the shores of the Potomac, and in the fields of western Pennsylvania, our world was forever changed," Garrity said.
"Twenty-five years later, may God bless the heroes of Flight 93, the first responders to the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and every American who answered the call to serve that day and in the years to follow: Let’s roll," Garrity added, quoting Flight 93 victim Todd Beamer of Cranbury, N.J., who was recorded calling out that phrase as he led an unsuccessful effort to retake control of the plane from the terrorists.