U.S. commemorates 9/11 attacks with victims in focus, and politics in view

The ceremony marking 23 years since the Sept. 11 attacks began at ground zero early Wednesday morning with a tolling bell and moment of silence.

But Sept. 11 — the date when hijacked plane attacks killed nearly 3,000 people in 2001 — falls in the thick of the presidential election season every four years, and it comes at an especially pointed moment this time. The anniversary ceremony at the World Trade Center brought Democratic and Republican nominees Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump face-to-face just hours after their first-ever debate Tuesday night.

But regardless of the campaign calendar, organizers of anniversary ceremonies have long taken pains to try to keep the focus on victims. For years, politicians have been only observers at ground zero observances, with the microphone going instead to relatives who read victims' names aloud.

The political backdrop wasn't top-of-mind for victims' relatives such as Cathy Naughton, who came to honor her cousin Michael Roberts, one of 343 firefighters killed in the attack. More than than that many have died since then of 9/11-related illnesses. Thousands more volunteers and first responders — transit workers, police officers, ambulance drivers, among others — are ill.

Twenty-three years later, “it’s just so raw," Naughton said. “We want to make sure people remember always, and say the names always and never forget.”

“Every year, it just doesn’t get easier,” she added.

The attacks killed 2,977 people and left thousands of bereaved relatives and scarred survivors. The planes carved a gash in the Pentagon, the U.S. military headquarters, and brought down the trade center's twin towers, which were among the world's tallest buildings.

As the complex legacy of 9/11 continues to evolve, communities around the country have developed remembrance traditions that range from laying wreaths to displaying flags, from marches to police radio messages. Volunteer projects also mark the anniversary, which Congress has titled both Patriot Day and a National Day of Service and Remembrance.

Some relatives have used the forum to bemoan Americans' divisions, exhort leaders to prioritize national security, acknowledge the casualties of the war on terror, complain that officials are politicizing 9/11 and even criticize individual officeholders.

But most readers stick to tributes and personal reflections. Increasingly they come from children and young adults who were born after the attacks killed a parent, grandparent, aunt or uncle.

— The Associated Press