SouthernWorldwide.com – As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary, Elizabeth L. Hillman, President and CEO of the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, emphasized the significance of this year’s milestone coinciding with the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
This alignment of anniversaries, she stated, serves to underscore both the nation’s historical journey and its remarkable resilience.
“9/11 is an important part of our nation’s history, but especially now as the nation turns 250,” Hillman remarked.
The tragic events of September 11, 2001, claimed the lives of nearly 3,000 people. Hijacked airplanes struck the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Hillman stressed the increasing importance of educating future generations about the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Understanding this event, she believes, is crucial for comprehending how it shaped the nation and its current standing.
“Now, 25 years have passed since that date, so if we don’t elevate 9/11 in the eyes of the 100 million Americans who were born since or were too young to remember 9/11 when it happened, we’ll lose the opportunity for them to understand what happened on that day and how the world came to heal, how the nation came together, and how this city and the other sites, the Pentagon and Shanksville, Pennsylvania, worked to recover afterward,” she explained.
The nation’s recovery in the aftermath of 9/11, according to Hillman, serves as a powerful testament to the human capacity for unity, healing, and rebuilding, even in the face of immense tragedy.
“I think everyone’s hungry for evidence that we can survive things that are difficult,” she shared. “There’s nothing like 9/11 to help people realize, given how the nation has recovered since, that it is possible to persevere, to heal, to recover, even in the face of really unfathomable loss, and that’s what 9/11 has the chance to teach us.”
Reflecting on the museum’s role, Hillman highlighted that the impact of the 9/11 attacks extended far beyond New York City, affecting the entire country. She described the museum as a tribute to “the resilience of the city” and to “the perseverance that enabled us to actually rebuild.”
“At the center of the rebuilt World Trade Center is a monument to the people who were killed that day and a testimony, really, to what we can do when we come together after that kind of catastrophe,” she added.
This year, the museum launched “Our Flag Was Still There,” an exhibition showcasing flags, artifacts, and photographs that narrate stories of resilience from first responders, veterans, and ordinary Americans who lived through 9/11. The exhibit features the Ground Zero flag raised by FDNY firefighters, the flag draped over the Pentagon by soldiers and firefighters, a flag raised over the last column of the South Tower, and a flag carried during the mission that led to the death of Usama bin Laden.
“It reveals how important the flag was in the healing and the coming together that happened after 9/11,” Hillman noted.
Hillman underscored that commemorating 9/11 holds particular importance at a time when “many things seem to be splitting us apart.”
“The opportunity to bring people together around a symbol like the flag and around a symbol like the rebuilding of the World Trade Center after 9/11, it’s a great opportunity, especially right now,” she stated.
In observance of Independence Day, Hillman announced that the museum will place an American flag at each victim’s name on the memorial. This gesture aims “to recognize how important the flag was as a symbol of the country on its birthday, but also of the recovery from 9/11 that happened and continues to happen now as we remember that day at this site.”
Looking ahead to the fall, Hillman also shared that the museum will begin offering free admission to veterans. She acknowledged their “willingness to serve after 9/11” as instrumental in rebuilding the World Trade Center and fostering national unity.
“If there’s one message that we feel we can elevate now that we couldn’t do 25 years ago because we didn’t know enough about what would happen afterward, it’s that so many people were inspired to serve their country, serving in the military,” she concluded.
