By: Cosmo F. Terrigno, Ed.S.
Twenty-five years have passed since a clear September morning became one of the darkest days in American history.
For countless Americans who lived through Sept. 11, 2001, the passage of time has done little to diminish the memory of where they were when they first heard the news. The images, the uncertainty and the realization that something unimaginable was unfolding became part of a shared national memory.
This anniversary marks an important threshold. Those personal memories now exist alongside an entire generation that knows Sept. 11 only as history.
On that morning, 19 terrorists affiliated with al-Qaeda hijacked four commercial airplanes in a coordinated attack against the United States. Two were flown into the World Trade Center in New York City and a third into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. Passengers and crew members aboard United Airlines Flight 93, which had departed from Newark International Airport that morning, fought back against the hijackers before the aircraft crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
The attacks killed 2,977 people.
For New Jersey, Sept. 11 was never a tragedy that happened somewhere else.
Nearly 750 New Jersey lives were lost that day, according to the New Jersey Department of Education. They were parents and spouses, sons and daughters, friends and coworkers. Behind every name was a family, and behind every family was a life suddenly and permanently changed.
The enormity of Sept. 11 can obscure that human cost. The people who died were not a statistic. They had homes to return to, plans for the evening, birthdays still to be celebrated and people expecting to see them again.
Across New Jersey, more than 150 memorials now honor those lost and the continuing effects of the attacks, according to the State Department of Education.
Among them is Empty Sky, New Jersey’s official 9/11 memorial at Liberty State Park. According to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, its two parallel stainless-steel walls are each 210 feet long, representing the width of each World Trade Center tower. Engraved upon them are the names of 750 people who lived in or had ties to New Jersey and died at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon or near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
South Jersey has its own places of remembrance, including the Saracini-O’Neill Atlantic City 9/11 Memorial. This year, families, residents, first responders, veterans and community organizations will again gather there to honor those killed and those whose lives and service continue to reflect the impact of that day.
The commemoration extends across the region. In Cherry Hill, Jewish War Veterans Post 126 and the South Jersey Men’s Club planted 2,977 American flags outside the Katz JCC, one for each person killed in the attacks. The township will also join first responders for a 25th-anniversary ceremony at its 9/11 Memorial.
These observances underscore why Sept. 11 cannot be regarded in South Jersey simply as something that happened across the Hudson River. Its losses reached New Jersey families, and its consequences were felt far beyond the immediate sites of the attacks.
There was also Sept. 12.
For many Americans, the morning after the attacks brought a changed understanding of things that had seemed ordinary only two days earlier. Families held one another a little closer. A routine goodbye carried more weight. A telephone call from someone you loved mattered differently. Across communities shaken by grief and uncertainty, people reached toward family, neighbors and strangers for reassurance and connection.
That response should not be romanticized. The days after Sept. 11 also brought fear, anger and, for some Americans, prejudice and suspicion. But amid that complicated aftermath was an unmistakable recognition of how suddenly an ordinary day could become the last day someone saw a person they loved.
Twenty-five years later, that may be among the most personal lessons Sept. 11 leaves behind: the people who matter to us should never be taken for granted.
That recognition was accompanied by action.
People donated blood and money. They comforted strangers. They supported grieving families. First responders and volunteers entered places others were desperately trying to escape. Communities established scholarships and assistance programs and found ways to transform grief into service.
New Jersey’s World Trade Center Scholarship Fund is one lasting example. Established in the aftermath of the attacks, it continues to provide educational assistance to eligible children and surviving spouses of victims, including certain families affected by illnesses related to exposure at the attack sites.
None of that means something good came from Sept. 11. Such a conclusion would diminish the magnitude of the loss. No scholarship, memorial or charitable act could compensate for a person who never returned home.
The good came from people responding to Sept. 11.
That spirit continues today through efforts such as the national 9/11 Day of Service, in which New Jersey is participating for the 2026 commemoration.
The consequences also continue for those who survived and responded. Some responders and survivors still live with illnesses associated with exposure to the attack sites. Families continue to experience milestones and ordinary days without the people they lost.
Time has also created a profound generational divide. Children in New Jersey classrooms today were born many years after Sept. 11, 2001. Even many young adults have little or no firsthand memory of the day. What remains vivid personal experience for millions of Americans is history to them.
In an August memorandum marking the 25th anniversary, the New Jersey Department of Education reminded school districts that state social studies standards require instruction about Sept. 11. The department encouraged educators to examine the attacks and their lasting effects while exploring resilience, service, unity, civic responsibility and cross-cultural understanding.
For South Jersey students, that history need not feel distant. It can be found in memorials within their own region, annual community ceremonies and the experiences of families and first responders who lived through that day and its aftermath.
The familiar promise “Never Forget” therefore carries a different responsibility after 25 years.
For those who experienced Sept. 11, the memories remain deeply personal. For generations born afterward, there can be no such memory. They will know the day through what others teach, document and preserve.
That history must remain accurate and human. It must account for the scale of the attack without reducing those who died to a number. It must acknowledge the courage of first responders, the suffering that continues for survivors and families, and the generosity that emerged in the aftermath.
Twenty-five years later, Sept. 11 remains part of New Jersey’s story and South Jersey’s story.
We honor the nearly 3,000 lives taken that morning, the families who have carried their loss for a quarter-century, and the responders and survivors who continue to live with its consequences. We also recognize the acts of service that showed what people could give one another in the shadow of extraordinary tragedy.
The memorials preserve the history.
The names tell us what was lost.
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