LIST: Bay Area communities hold memorial ceremonies, marking 25 years since 9/11 attacks
Communities across the Bay Area will mark 25 years after the Sept. 11 attacks on Friday with ceremonies, memorials, services and other events honoring those who died and those who responded in the aftermath.
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SAN FRANCISCO
The San Francisco Fire Department will hold 9/11 remembrance ceremonies at all its facilities at 6:40 a.m. at the Public Safety Building, 1245 Third St., where city and state officials are scheduled to appear.
At 10:30 a.m., the Heart & Armor Foundation for Veterans Health, city officials, San Francisco Giants and San Francisco Interfaith Council will hold a commemoration at the Presidio, Main Post, 210 Lincoln Blvd. Speakers include Nancy Pelosi, Mayor Daniel Lurie and Fire Chief Dean Crispen. The event will also include a San Francisco Symphony performance, an interfaith blessing and a service project.
SAN RAFAEL
The San Rafael Fire Department will hold a memorial ceremony at 6:58 a.m. at Station 54, 46 Castro Ave. The event will include a traditional bagpiper procession, opening remarks, commemorative speeches and a reading of names.
At 10 a.m., a community remembrance event will be held at Lauren's Place, 933 Fourth St., honoring Lauren Grandcolas, who died aboard United Airlines Flight 93.
MORE: SF flight attendant remembered as 9/11 hero, family works to honor her legacy 25 years later
DALY CITY
At 8 a.m., the Jefferson Elementary School District will hold a ceremony at Thomas R. Pollicita Middle School, 550 E. Market St. Officials say it will make California history as the first school district in the state to formally raise the Freedom Flag as a symbol of 9/11 remembrance.
OAKLAND
At 9 a.m., the Alameda County Veterans Affairs Commission will hold a veteran banner unveiling at the Oakland Veteran Memorial Building, 200 Grand Ave. The event will honor lives lost on 9/11 and recognize four Black veteran trailblazers.
PLEASANTON
At 9 a.m., Alameda County Supervisor David Haubert will lead a 25th anniversary memorial ceremony at the Alameda County Fairgrounds Amphitheater, 4501 Pleasanton Ave. The ceremony will include a call of the bell, rifle salute, Taps and a speaking program.
UNION CITY
At 10 a.m., Union City will hold a remembrance at the Flight 93 Memorial at Sugar Mill Landing Park, 3296 Courthouse Place. The event will honor passengers and crew members aboard United Airlines Flight 93 and include Mayor Gary Singh, memorial creator Michael Emerson and a reading of the names.
SALINAS
At 10 a.m., Salinas will hold its annual 9/11 ceremony at Fire Station 1, 216 W. Alisal St. The event will include a reading of the names of those who died.
LOS GATOS
At 6:45 p.m., Los Gatos will hold a community remembrance event before the Los Gatos High School varsity football game at Helm Field, 20 High School Court. The event will honor high school alumni Mark Bingham and Todd Beamer and include a military jet flyover, recognition of their families and a newly relocated 9/11 memorial plaque. Rep. Sam Liccardo and Mayor Rob Moore are scheduled to speak.
San Francisco honors those who served and the unity that followed
Twenty-five years after the September 11 terrorist attacks, hundreds gathered at San Francisco's Presidio on Friday to remember the lives lost, honor those who answered the call to serve and reflect on a country transformed in the decades since.
Against the backdrop of a nation that looks very different politically than it did 25 years ago, speakers reflected on the unity that followed the attacks - and the responsibility to carry that spirit of service forward.
The commemoration brought together veterans from different generations, first responders, faith leaders and city officials, with music performed by members of the San Francisco Symphony.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi recalled being at the U.S. Capitol on the morning of September 11, 2001, watching the first plane hit the World Trade Center on television.
"Of course, our first reaction was, 'Oh, my gosh, it's a terrible accident,'" Pelosi said. "Before you know it, a second plane went into the other tower. It wasn't an accident. It was an attack on America."
Pelosi said she was later evacuated from the Capitol as another hijacked plane, United Flight 93, headed toward Washington before passengers and crew fought back and the plane crashed in Pennsylvania. She also recalled later visiting Ground Zero, where first responders continued searching through the debris.
Twenty-five years later, Pelosi said the nation's responsibility to those affected by the attacks continues.
"We are not finished with our obligation to those who are affected by that day," Pelosi said, pointing to the continuing needs of first responders and veterans.
For San Francisco Fire Chief Dean Crispen, the response to the attacks was immediate.
"When my ten colleagues and I saw the events unfolding on television, it wasn't a question of whether to go, simply a matter of how quickly we could get there," Crispen said.
The group traveled across the country to help in New York.
"San Francisco firefighters who had never set foot in New York arrived to find we were not strangers. We were welcomed like family," Crispen said. "We stood shoulder to shoulder with the exhausted first responders, united by the same calling that guides veterans, medics and all who serve: the oath to protect others at any cost."
But Crispen also emphasized that the consequences of service do not end when the immediate crisis does.
"The wounds of service are not always visible," he said. "The experiences carried home from 9/11, from deployments, from rescues, from disasters, they don't disappear when the uniform comes off."
That was a central focus of Friday's ceremony, organized by the Heart & Armor Foundation for Veterans Health, which supports research and programs aimed at improving veterans' health and connecting veterans with their communities.
Gerard Choucroun, the foundation's executive director, said the passage of time has only made that work more important.
"So much has changed, so much time has passed, and a lot of the wounds of war worsened over time," Choucroun said.
He said supporting veterans cannot be limited to moments when war or military service dominates the national conversation.
"It's really important that we stick with veterans throughout the life course, not just when it's something that we're seeing in the news every day," Choucroun said. "These are important public health things that we need to keep our eye on day in and day out."
A generation shaped by what followed
For some veterans at Friday's ceremony, 9/11 was the event that set the course of their lives.
Matthew Smith, a Marine veteran, told the crowd he walked into a recruiting station the day after the attacks, driven by anger and a desire to respond. He later fought in Iraq, including in the Second Battle of Fallujah, before returning home with depression, alcohol dependence and thoughts of suicide.
"Combat made it hard to embrace life afterward," he said.
After receiving help himself and losing a fellow Marine to suicide, he eventually earned degrees in social work and became a mental health counselor working with other veterans.
"What I admire most about our nation is how we respond to tragedy," he said. "We come together. We help our neighbors. We are stronger together."
Then he added a hope for the next generation: "I hope we will learn to come together without the need of a tragedy."
U.S. Navy veteran and Heart & Armor ambassador Katie Miller also reflected on how the wars that followed 9/11 shaped her decision to serve.
"I don't know that I would have joined if we weren't at war, because I don't think the calling would have been there to protect," Miller said.
A complicated legacy
Speakers did not portray the years after September 11 as a simple story of national unity.
Kashif Abdullah, a Muslim educator and Navy veteran, reflected on the way Americans of different faiths came together after the attacks, while also acknowledging the discrimination Muslim Americans experienced and the profound policy changes that followed.
"The war on terror began. The Department of Homeland Security was created," he said, before pointing to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the lasting physical and psychological wounds carried by veterans.
He also spoke about the rise in anti-Muslim hate following the attacks and the way debates over terrorism, immigration and national security continue to shape American politics.
"Do not allow fear to decide who your neighbor is," he told the crowd. "Remember that America that emerged in those first days. The America where strangers embraced strangers, where different faiths prayed together."
San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie, who was living in New York City on September 11, said what stayed with him was not only the horror he witnessed, but the response that followed.
"Strangers were looking out for strangers," Lurie said. "People showing up for one another with no expectation of anything in return, simply because we needed them."
"You can rise from the ashes. You can come back better and stronger than you ever were before," Lurie added. "But you can't do that unless there are people who answer that call to serve."
That idea of service extended beyond those in uniform.
Another speaker described service as being a good neighbor, reaching for someone who needs help and creating opportunities for those who have not had enough of them.
That idea of service extended beyond those in uniform, with speakers emphasizing the power of simply showing up for others.
"Doing something for others always makes life feel better," Army veteran Andre Rogers said. "If I can make one wish, it would be that we remember September 11th, 2001, a day when we belonged to one another."
As the San Francisco Symphony closed the ceremony with "America the Beautiful," attendees gathered around tables to write handwritten notes of gratitude to veterans, first responders and members of the military community.
The event was hosted by the Hear & Armor foundation, a foundation that works to help support veterans health and wellbeing.
