NEW YORK — A multicolored phoenix welcomes visitors to a somber new exhibit in the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, its outstretched wings composed of hundreds of letters from children who lost parents or other loved ones in the terror attacks 25 years ago.
Each handwritten note, such as “Daddy’s Little Girl” and “Memories Last Forever,” was penned by a child at America’s Camp, a free, one-week sleepaway camp in Massachusetts’ Berkshire Mountains for grieving youngsters of 9/11 first responders in 2006.
Their combined messages compose the unique, massive artwork — the first in a series of commemorations in the museum’s “In Their Honor: 25 Years of 9/11-Inspired Service” exhibit, which opens to the public on Saturday.
Each display spotlights the life of someone who turned the tragedy of that day into a legacy of dedication.
Beth Hillman, the museum’s president and CEO since 2022, noted the “significant milestone” of the attacks and stressed the importance of remembering and recovery during an Aug. 31 press preview of the exhibit.
“Many in my generation remember exactly where we were on that horrific day. Yet 100 million Americans were not even born or too young to remember that day for themselves today,” said Ms. Hillman, an Air Force veteran and former president of Mills College. “Each year, we vow to never forget. As time moves forward, that vow becomes even more important.”
Nearly 3,000 passengers, first responders and bystanders were killed when 19 hijackers crashed commercial airliners into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, on Sept. 11, 2001. Hundreds more died over the years of diseases related to exposure to toxins in and around ground zero in New York City.
To mark the 25th anniversary, the 9/11 Memorial Museum will conduct a Memorial Plaza ceremony, hold a moment of silence for those who died from 9/11-related illness, participate in a prime-time ABC News special and provide a nationwide digital learning program for schools.
The goal is to reach the roughly 100 million Americans with no memory of the attacks and expand education efforts via field trips, journalist story-sharing and teacher training.
Logan Miller, a member of the museum’s Visionary Leadership Council, echoed Ms. Hillman’s words during the press preview, emphasizing the importance of teaching new generations about this moment in history. He acknowledged his own ignorance when 9/11 occurred, as he was in second grade at the time.
“At that age, I couldn’t begin to grasp the magnitude of what had happened,” Mr. Miller told reporters. “I was mostly excited to leave school early.”
He later learned that his uncle, a New York Supreme Court officer, died when the South Tower collapsed. His uncle and others left the safety of the courthouse to help the injured several blocks away.
In addition, Mr. Miller’s grandfather died in 2016 of leukemia linked to cancerous dust at ground zero.
“They chose to serve, they chose to rebuild, and they chose to help people that they had never met,” he said, adding that the 25th anniversary is “an opportunity for us to not only remember those lost on September 11th, but also those who took action on September 12th and every day thereafter.”
A key component of “In Their Honor” is a series of photos with explainer panels highlighting the work of individuals who have embraced their losses on 9/11 to make advancements in science, security, service and other fields:
• Forensic scientist Andrew Schweighardt, whose cousin died in the attacks, wrote in his senior yearbook in 2001 that he planned “to prove that science can triumph over evil.” He worked at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in New York from 2013 to 2022 to help identify remains from the World Trade Center.
• Ellen Saracini’s husband — pilot Victor J. Saracini — was killed on 9/11. She has since advocated for improved airline security and helped enact federal requirements for secondary barriers on aircraft to prevent cockpit takeovers.
• Air Force veteran Betty Neilsen transmuted her grief into action. She gathered members of her Iowa community to create five memorial quilts. The endeavor grew into Freedom Quilts, a volunteer network that made quilts for every 9/11 victim’s family and families of military members killed in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The network has delivered more than 6,700 quilts across the country.
• Jay Winuk’s brother Glenn, a volunteer firefighter, died on 9/11. Mr. Winuk and his friend David Paine worked for years to help designate 9/11 as a National Day of Service, with President Obama’s signature on the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act in 2009.
• Another panel reminds visitors that 9/11 was not only an American tragedy. At least 24 Japanese nationals were among the victims in the World Trade Center attack. Kazusada Sumiyama’s son Yochi, a manager for Fuji Bank in the South Tower, was one of them. In an effort to understand what happened that day, Mr. Sumiyama spent years translating “The 9/11 Commission Report” into Japanese. In 2021, his translation was published in honor of the 20th anniversary.
Elsewhere in the exhibit, a huge poster displays messages and tributes from people touched by the tragedy of 9/11: “I love my neighbor as myself.” “I love my city and my country.” “My first born was born on September 11, 2001. He is a blessing on this day. We try and give back what we were given by his birth.”
And behind a tiled wall bearing a quote by the Roman poet Virgil lie 8,000 unidentified remains from 9/11 and a 1993 terrorist attack at the World Trade Center that killed six people. Against a backdrop of 2,983 unique shades of blue, one tile for each life lost, the quote reads: “No day shall erase you from the memory of time.”
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