25 years on, United States seeks to keep 9/11 memories alive

A quarter century after the era-defining attacks of September 11, the United States is eager to keep alive the memory of a 2001 trauma that is fading as the proportion of Americans who did not experience it firsthand grows.

US President Donald Trump will pay his respects at the Pentagon rather than in New York, where the attacks by hijacked passenger planes on the World Trade Center towers claimed the largest number of the 2,977 total victims recorded on that day.

But Vice President JD Vance and Trump's four living predecessors – Democrats Joe Biden, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, as well as Republican George Bush, who was president at the time of the attacks – are all expected at the "Ground Zero" site in lower Manhattan next Friday.

The anniversary commemorates a watershed moment for the US and the world.

"Many in my generation remember exactly where we were on that horrific day" in 2001, said Beth Hillman, 59, president of the 9/11 Memorial & Museum and a US Air Force veteran.

Yet today, "100 million Americans were not even born or are too young to remember" the tragic events.

 

'More inquisitive' young people

After placing major emphasis on the duty to remember, her institution is now focusing on outreach, education and engaging younger generations. Trained volunteers, including first responders, connect with audiences who have learned of the disaster solely through their parents or school.

"Even if you were alive but not here or have a connection, it's a lot easier to understand the magnitude of what took place," Logan Miller, a 32-year-old who lost an uncle and a grandfather as a result of the attacks, told AFP.

Making sense of 9/11 is "a little tougher for that next generation," he added.  

Miller is one of many volunteers sharing their experiences at the museum, which gets 2.4 million unique visitors per year, or through video clips.

Young people are "more inquisitive" and ask more questions than their elders, who Miller said sometimes hesitate to challenge him for fear of causing offence.

"I wasn't born at the time and yet it was important for me to be here, to do this trip," said 22-year-old Ignacio Gaete, a Chilean visiting the museum and memorial featuring two large recessed pools within the footprints of the Twin Towers.

Gaete said that while young people don't have visceral memories of 9/11 like his father does, "I think it can transcend generations."

But that transcendence requires preservation and education, according to Holly Kafka, visiting Manhattan from Chicago with her husband.

"Our younger generation... they're always in this little rat race, keeping up with social media," the 61-year-old said. "We have to stop them and say, 'Come here and experience it.'"

 

9,400 more deaths

As they do every year at Ground Zero starting at 8.40 am local time (1240 GMT), the time shortly before hijacked American Airlines Flight 11 struck the North Tower, relatives will read the long list of their loved ones' names.

In the evening, two beams of light will project skyward from lower Manhattan, symbolic of the towers.

Nineteen al-Qaeda operatives hijacked four planes on that nearly cloudless day in 2001. Two jets slammed into the World Trade Center, causing the iconic 110-story buildings to collapse.

A third plane struck the Pentagon, while a fourth – which apparently had targeted the US Capitol or the White House – crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after passengers fought back.

Beyond those killed on September 11, more than 9,400 other people have died from 9/11-related illnesses, according to the federal program established to provide medical care to those affected.

The trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, alleged mastermind of the attacks and a top lieutenant of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, was recently scheduled for June 2028 at the US Navy base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. He has been detained there for 20 years.

Trump, 80, has confirmed he will skip the Ground Zero event and instead speak at the Pentagon on 9/11.

The New York Times reported it was because Trump would not be allowed to deliver remarks at the site, which has strictly banned speeches so commemorations there could remain non-partisan.

The US president dismissed the reporting as "made up."

"This is more Corrupt News, I've been to New York many times over the years, and no-one ever speaks, it's a 'solemn ceremony!'" Trump said on his Truth Social network last week.

 

Trump invents 9/11 story

In Trump's telling at a White House event on Tuesday, two firefighters bodily lifted him to safety from a site near an unstable building after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

"And I'll never forget," Trump said, "we thought it was coming down on top of us, and two firemen, big strong guys – and I'm not the smallest guy in the world – they grabbed me under the arm, said, 'Got to get out of here!'" Trump said.

His comments, at an event honouring emergency personnel killed on 9/11, appeared to be a new installment in a constantly evolving narrative that Trump has told over the years about his actions after the attacks.

It's a story that has long featured the New York property tycoon as the hero, with variations on him taking workers down to Ground Zero. 

But Trump's version of events is one that US media say is disputed by rescue officials present at the time.

Later on Friday, Trump is due to fly to Ireland where he will attend the Irish Open golf tournament at his family's golf course over the weekend.

 

'More famous than me'

His absence from New York marks a contrast with Trump's usual approach, which has been to put himself at the heart of the 9/11 story.

Two days after the attacks, Trump told reporters that he had been to Ground Zero and had sent 100 workers to the site to help recovery efforts. CNN and The New York Times said people present at the site disputed his account.

In the event on the White House Ellipse on Tuesday, where a steel beam recovered from the World Trade Center's South Tower was on display, Trump gave a fresh account of his actions that day.

Trump said it had been a "beautiful morning" and that he had then seen a news alert on television, before looking out of his window "and I saw things that I never want to see again."

He added that he was overseeing a building project and that he "took the whole crew down there right after this happened."

Trump clarified his recollections in a lengthy Truth Social Post Tuesday evening.

"I was there, obviously not on the same day as the collapse, but shortly thereafter, with a large group of Construction Workers," Trump wrote, in a post accompanied by a video showing answering reporters' questions.

"I was there as soon as the Law allowed," the US president added, as he lashed out at journalists and accused them of spreading "fake news."

 

– TIMES/AFP