09/11/2026
🇺🇸 SEPTEMBER 11, 2001 — WE REMEMBER
It began as an ordinary Tuesday morning.
People were getting ready for work. Children were getting ready for school. Coffee was being poured. Traffic moved through the streets of New York City. Thousands of people were beginning another ordinary day.
At 8:46 AM, that ordinary morning ended.
American Airlines Flight 11 struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center.
At first, there was confusion. Then disbelief. Then the realization that something terrible was happening.
Firefighters began moving toward the towers.
Not away from them.
Toward them.
At 9:03 AM, United Airlines Flight 175 struck the South Tower.
The world watched in horror as the second impact made one thing painfully clear:
This was no accident.
And still, the firefighters climbed.
Floor after floor.
Stairwell after stairwell.
Carrying their equipment. Carrying their tools. Carrying the weight of the people who were trapped above them.
Some made it only partway up.
Some made it all the way to the top.
None of them knew if they would come back down.
At 9:37 AM, Flight 77 struck the Pentagon.
And across the country, emergency personnel were answering calls that would change their lives forever.
Then, at 9:59 AM, the South Tower came down.
In seconds, a building that had stood for decades disappeared into a cloud of dust and debris.
At 10:03 AM, here in Pennsylvania, the passengers and crew of Flight 93 made the decision that would become one of the most remarkable acts of courage in American history.
They knew they were going to die.
But they decided they would not allow the aircraft to reach its intended target.
They fought back.
And Flight 93 crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
They saved lives they would never know.
At 10:28 AM, the North Tower collapsed.
By then, the unimaginable had become reality.
The towers were gone.
The Pentagon was burning.
A field in Pennsylvania had become a place of sacrifice.
And thousands of families were about to receive the phone call that no family should ever have to receive.
Among those lost were 343 members of the FDNY.
Three hundred forty-three firefighters and fire officers who went to work that morning expecting to come home.
They didn't.
They were fathers and mothers.
Sons and daughters.
Husbands and wives.
Brothers and sisters.
Friends.
Neighbors.
Firefighters.
Our brothers and sisters.
And they were not alone.
Police officers, paramedics, emergency medical personnel, Port Authority officers, civilians, and countless others gave their lives that day.
Nearly three thousand innocent people never went home.
But September 11th left us something else.
For a moment, America remembered what it meant to stand together.
Flags appeared everywhere.
On homes.
On vehicles.
In windows.
On uniforms.
Strangers embraced strangers.
People ran toward blood donation centers.
Communities gathered.
Churches filled.
And for a brief moment, the things that divided us seemed very small compared to the things that united us.
We were Americans.
One people.
One nation.
Under one flag.
At Union Fire Company #3, we hold this day as sacred.
Because we understand the call.
We understand what it means to hear the alarm, put on the gear, climb into the apparatus, and leave your family behind because someone else needs help.
We understand that the person waiting for us on the other end of that call may be someone's entire world.
And we understand the promise that every firefighter makes when they put on the uniform:
We go.
On September 11th, 2001, our brothers and sisters went.
They climbed.
They searched.
They carried.
They rescued.
They served.
And they gave everything.
Today, we don't remember September 11th because we want to relive the horror.
We remember because forgetting would mean losing the meaning of their sacrifice.
So today, we remember the lives.
We remember the families.
We remember the civilians.
We remember the firefighters.
We remember the police officers.
We remember the EMTs and paramedics.
We remember the dispatchers.
We remember the passengers of Flight 93.
We remember every person who ran toward the danger.
And we remember the 343 who answered their final alarm.
Twenty-five years later, the smoke has cleared.
The buildings have been rebuilt.
The world has moved forward.
But their names remain.
Their stories remain.
Their sacrifice remains.
And as long as there are firefighters willing to answer the call, their legacy will remain.
🇺🇸 September 11, 2001.
We remember the lives lost.
We honor the heroes who answered the call.
We stand together beneath one flag.
And we will never forget.
343.
Never Forgotten.
Always Honored.
Forever Our Brothers and Sisters.
