US marks 25 years since 9/11

New York vowed to "never forget" the people who died in the horrific terrorist attacks of Sept 11, 2001, as the city united with the nation on Friday in solemn remembrance of the lives lost, 25 years after the day that changed the United States.

The hallowed ground where the twin towers at the World Trade Center in New York once stood is a permanent memorial to the nearly 3,000 victims. Two expansive, beautiful, calm, reflecting pools with streaming water allow visitors time to reflect.

In a coordinated attack, four commercial airliners were hijacked by 19 al-Qaida operatives. Two planes were flown into the twin towers, a third crashed into the Pentagon, and a fourth went down into a field in Pennsylvania after passengers fought back against the hijackers, stopping it from reaching its intended target, thought to be in Washington. All of the passengers and hijackers died.

Many New Yorkers saw it firsthand or watched it on TV. Some felt the ground shake as the north and south towers collapsed, causing dust and debris to engulf the city.

One admits that the moment is still etched into his mind.

Stanley O' Connor, 71, a local tour guide for the city who lives in New York, still remembers that fateful day vividly.

"I had just walked my girlfriend out to the subway, and I walked back, and my housemate was taking a shower, and he opened the bathroom door and said, 'Stan, the radio says that the World Trade Center is on fire.' That hasn't happened since 1993 … So I started calling her, saying 'please come home'," O' Connor told China Daily.

She worked in a building near the twin towers, and he said that he watched it all on TV. "I literally tore my hair out when the north tower fell." He continued frantically trying to reach her — and eventually she returned home safely, unlike many others who lost their lives.

He recalled that throughout New York and the entire US, the fear was palpable as they "didn't know what was going on".

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, accused by the US of being the mastermind of the attacks, will stand trial in June 2028, along with three co-defendants at the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

O'Connor said he is extremely thankful that he also narrowly escaped being in the twin towers that day.

"I was supposed to take people on a tour to the south tower that night," he said. "I was still at home at 9 am because this was a 2 pm to 8 or 9 pm gig."

In the wake of 9/11, he worked around the Ground Zero site as a pedicab driver. He later developed post-traumatic stress disorder, a mental health condition that affects someone after they witness or experience a terrifying event.

He got bronchitis and contracted melanoma — a type of cancer — but he had it removed.

He is just one of the people eligible for the September 11 Victim Compensation Fund, or VCF, which provides financial compensation to people who qualify because of illnesses related to the attacks.

Health challenges

He says his health challenges still shape his life. He sustained some issues from the poor air quality in Lower Manhattan in the years after 9/11. He showed off an inhaler that he carries around daily.

In the weeks after 9/11, New Yorkers were assured that air quality near the felled towers was safe.

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani's administration announced on Tuesday that it will release the post-9/11 air quality records to coincide with the 25th anniversary.

The records, which were reviewed early by The New York Times, showed that asbestos was found nearly a kilometer away from the towers over 10 months after 9/11.

The 170,000 pages of records covering air quality, contamination records and correspondence among city officials were stored in 68 boxes in a city office and were only rediscovered last year, according to The Times.

On the day of the attacks, 412 emergency personnel died, including 343 firefighters, 37 Port Authority Police Department officers, 23 New York police officers, eight emergency medical technicians and one New York Fire Patrol member.

The first responders who toiled in the collapsed World Trade Center rubble in 2001 inhaled dust, noxious gases, particulates, chemicals and fibers from the debris.

Reuters reported that the government-funded World Trade Center Health Program has provided healthcare for 9/11-related illnesses to more than 150,000 responders involved in rescue and recovery efforts and survivors who lived, worked or studied in the disaster area, according to data collected through June 30 by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

As of June 30, people in the program had received roughly 85,000 certifications for World Trade Center-related health conditions.

About half were linked to inhaling or swallowing toxic dust, and about 30 percent were for cancer.

John Feal worked as a construction supervisor and was exposed to the toxic dust at the 9/11 site, nicknamed "the pile" by workers.

He developed gangrene, then sepsis, and lost his foot after a steel beam fell on it at Ground Zero shortly after he arrived.

Feal told China Daily: "(At Ground Zero) we had health problems right away. Everybody was complaining about their sore throats, runny eyes. We knew that what we were inhaling wasn't any good, and that was right away. I was only there for five and a half days before I got hurt. But I had a sore throat, burning eyes and a burning nose."

He became an activist lobbying Congress for benefits for other survivors alongside comedian and The Daily Show co-host Jon Stewart.

Both Feal and Stewart worked together to extend federally funded programs such as the VCF.

Feal, who established his Feal-Good Foundation, was also instrumental in getting the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act passed in 2010 and renewed over the years.

More than 9,000 people tracked by the World Trade Center Health Program have died since the attacks, though officials say it's difficult to determine the role that 9/11 played in their deaths, Reuters reported.

At the two 9/11 reflecting pools, the names of victims are etched, and single roses have been placed in remembrance a few days before the 25th anniversary.

The National September 11 Memorial & Museum had a long line of people waiting patiently to get inside.

At stalls located in the area, small keepsakes such as keyrings, T-shirts and tote bags are for sale.

Many bear the mantra: "New York City, Never Forget."

A "flag of honor" with the names of every person who died in the Sept 11 attacks and the February 1993 attack on the World Trade Center is displayed at Ground Zero.

A crowd gathered quietly near the 9/11 Survivor tree — a Callery pear tree that was discovered severely burned in the rubble at Ground Zero in October 2001. It was rejuvenated and replanted near the museum to be a symbol of resilience, rebirth and hope, according to the museum.

In the days before the anniversary, a trio of bagpipers played a solemn song in remembrance of the lives lost, drawing a crowd of onlookers who applauded them.

belindarobinson@chinadailyusa.com