With presidential candidates looking on, some 9/11 victims’ relatives appealed to them Wednesday for accountability as the U.S. marked an anniversary laced with election-season politics.
In a remarkable tableau, President Joe Biden, former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris stood together at ground zero just hours after Trump and Harris faced off in their first-ever debate. Trump and Biden — the successor whose inauguration Trump skipped — shook hands, and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg appeared to facilitate a handshake between Harris and Trump.
Then the campaign rivals stood only a few feet (meters) apart, Biden and Bloomberg between them, as the hourslong reading of victims’ names began. At Trump’s side was his running mate, Sen. JD Vance.
The image was one of putting politics aside at this year’s solemn commemoration of the hijacked-plane attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people on Sept. 11, 2001. But some victims’ relatives, after reading out names, delivered political messages of their own.
“We are pleading for your help, but you ignore us,” Allison Walsh-DiMarzio said, directly challenging Trump and Harris to press Saudi Arabia about any official involvement in the attacks. Most of the 19 hijackers were Saudi, but the kingdom denies it was behind their plot.
“Which one of you will have the courage to be our hero? We deserve better,” Walsh-DiMarzio said. She’s a daughter of 9/11 victim Barbara P. Walsh, an administrative assistant.
Joanne Barbara was one of multiple readers who spoke out against a now-revoked plea deal that military prosecutors struck with alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two fellow defendants.
“It has been 23 years, and the families deserve justice and accountability,” said the widow of Assistant Fire Chief Gerard A. Barbara.
Biden, on his last Sept. 11 in office, and Harris paid respects Wednesday at all three 9/11 attack sites: ground zero, the Pentagon and a rural part of Pennsylvania.
The president, vice president — and, separately, Trump — laid wreaths Wednesday afternoon at the Flight 93 National Memorial near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Biden and Harris spoke with victims’ relatives and visited the local fire department; Trump and Vance went to a New York City firehouse earlier in the day.
The Flight 93 memorial stands where one of the hijacked planes crashed after crew members and passengers tried to storm the cockpit. Trump described the site as an “incredible place” in brief remarks from afar to reporters.
The Impact of 9/11
The attacks killed 2,977 people and left thousands of bereaved relatives and scarred survivors. The planes took down the World Trade Center’s twin towers and carved a gash in the Pentagon, the U.S. military headquarters, where Biden and Harris laid a red, white and blue wreath Wednesday afternoon.
While many Americans may not observe 9/11 anniversaries anymore, “the men and women of the Department of Defense remember,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said earlier in the day.
The attacks altered U.S. foreign policy, domestic security practices and the mindset of many Americans who had not previously felt vulnerable to foreign extremists.
Effects rippled around the world. Victims came from more than 90 different countries, and the U.S. responded to the attacks with a “Global War on Terrorism.” U.S.-led invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq killed hundreds of thousands of Afghans and Iraqis and thousands of American troops.
Communities around the country hold events on the anniversary, which Congress has titled both Patriot Day and a National Day of Service and Remembrance.
Thousands of Americans commemorate it with volunteer work — among them Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. He packed meals in St. Paul for people in need.
A Moment of Silence and Reflection
During early anniversaries at ground zero, presidents and other officeholders read poems, parts of the Declaration of Independence and other texts.
But the National Sept. 11 Memorial and Museum decided in 2012 to limit the ceremony to relatives reading victims’ names.
If politicians “care about what’s actually going on, great. Be here,” said Korryn Bishop, who attended Wednesday to remember her cousin John F. McDowell Jr., who worked in finance. “If they’re just here for political clout, that upsets me.”
Brandon Jones was glad politicians weren’t on the podium.
“This should be a site for coming together to find feasible solutions and peace. This should not be a place to score political points to get brownie points to round up your base,” said Jones. He’s a cousin of victim Jon Richard Grabowski, an insurance firm technology executive.
Political Tensions at Ground Zero
In 2008, then-senators and presidential campaign rivals John McCain and Barack Obama jointly paid their respects at ground zero.
Eight years later, the Democratic nominee, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, abruptly left the trade center ceremony, stumbled while awaiting her motorcade and later disclosed that she had been diagnosed with pneumonia. The episode stirred fresh attention to her health, which her Republican opponent — Trump, who was also at that observance — had been questioning for months.
Over the years, some victims’ relatives have used the forum to exhort leaders to prioritize national security, acknowledge the casualties of the war on terror, complain that officials are politicizing 9/11 and even criticize individual officeholders. Others bemoan Americans’ divisions or decry violence.
“It’s my prayer that this wicked act called terrorism will never occur again,” Jacob Afuakwah said Wednesday. He lost his brother, Emmanuel Akwasi Afuakwah, a restaurant worker.
But many family members stick to tributes and personal reflections. Increasingly they come from children and young adults born after the attacks killed one of their relatives.
Thirteen-year-old twins Brady and Emily Henry read names to honor their uncle, firefighter Joseph Patrick Henry.
“We promise to continue telling your stories,” Emily Henry said, “and we’ll never let anyone forget all those lost on Sept. 11.”
A Day of Unity and Remembrance
On Wednesday morning, President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and former President Donald Trump commemorated the 23rd anniversary of the 9/11 attacks at Ground Zero, where hijacked planes crashed in 2001, claiming nearly 3,000 lives.
Biden and Harris began their day with a visit to the World Trade Center site in New York City, where the Twin Towers were brought down by hijacked planes.
Biden and Trump shook hands, and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg appeared to facilitate a handshake between Harris and Trump. Then, the presidential rivals stood only a few feet apart, with Biden and Bloomberg between them, as the observance began with the tolling of a bell and a moment of silence.
There were no formal remarks at the “ground zero” site where planes brought down the World Trade Center’s twin towers. Instead, wives, husbands, sisters, brothers, and grandchildren read out the names of family members killed 23 years ago.
After New York, Biden and Harris flew to Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where passengers on United Flight 93 overcame the hijackers and the plane crashed in a field, preventing another target from being hit.
At a white marble memorial in the field, Biden gently laid a hand on the wreath to pay his respects to the 40 people killed in the crash. He and Harris were joined by Calvin Wilson, the brother-in-law of Flight 93 co-pilot LeRoy Homer Jr.
The president and vice president spoke with local fire officials at the Shanksville Volunteer Fire Department, pausing for a moment to observe another memorial, erected on an adjacent hill where 40 flags waved in the wind.
There, Biden spoke about the need for the country to return to bipartisan unity and gave a hat to a Trump supporter, who gave him a Trump hat in return, according to spokesperson Andrew Bates.
Biden wore the hat, making for a viral photograph. “Thanks for the support, Joe,” the Trump campaign wrote on social media.
Biden and Harris later headed to a memorial at the Pentagon. There, they carried a wreath decorated in red, white, and blue, bowed their heads, and stood before it for a few moments before “Taps” played.
“On this day 23 years ago, terrorists believed they could break our will and bring us to our knees. They were wrong. They will always be wrong. In the darkest of hours, we found light. And in the face of fear, we came together—to defend our country, and to help one another,” Biden said in a statement.
Trump, who visited the Pennsylvania memorial on Wednesday, told Fox News: “It was very, very sad, horrible day. There’s never been anything like it.”
Biden earlier issued a proclamation honoring those who died as a result of the attacks, as well as the hundreds of thousands of Americans who volunteered for military service afterward.
“We owe these patriots of the 9/11 Generation a debt of gratitude that we can never fully repay,” Biden said, citing deployments to Afghanistan, Iraq, and other war zones, as well as the capture and killing of Sept. 11 mastermind Osama bin Laden.
This year’s remembrance includes the posthumous awarding of the Congressional Gold Medal to 13 service members killed in the August 2021 suicide bombing at Kabul’s airport during the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Congressional leaders recognized their sacrifices in the aftermath of the longest war in U.S. history, a conflict deeply tied to the legacy of 9/11.
Communities across the country have developed various traditions to honor the day, from laying wreaths and displaying flags to volunteer efforts and police radio broadcasts.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
