25 years after September 11, Americans reflect on attack that changed a nation

(Reuters) – Americans marked the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks on Friday with sorrow and ​somber reflection, honoring the nearly 3,000 people killed when hijacked planes slammed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field in a shocking attack that reverberates to this day.

In New ‌York, family members of the victims, many carrying pictures of their loved ones, joined Vice President JD Vance and four former U.S. presidents at Ground Zero in Lower Manhattan. The ceremony began, as always, at 8:46 a.m. ET (1246 GMT) with a moment of silence to mark the instant when American Airlines Flight 11 struck the World Trade Center’s North Tower in what would become the deadliest attack ever on U.S. soil.

Shortly after, victims’ family members began reading aloud the names of all 2,977 people who died on September 11, as well as the six people killed ​in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, a somber recitation that lasted about four hours. In a reminder of the time that has passed, some readers were children who had never met the relatives they lost ​in 2001.