WHYY commemorates the 25th anniversary of 9/11

WHYY-TV 12 airs its 2001 tribute concert honoring the victims of the 9/11 attacks, their families, the heroes who saved lives and the spirit of a community coming together.

Twenty-five years later, the concert remains deeply meaningful. Watch the program on TV-12 on Sept. 11 at 7 p.m. You may also view and share the program here.

Tara Bane’s husband, Michael, was at work in the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, when the commandeered planes struck.

“I’m still having a difficult time wrapping my head around the fact that it’s been 25 years since I last saw his smiling face, since I last heard his endearing chuckle,” she told the hundreds of people gathered at a ceremony in Bucks County on Friday marking the anniversary of the attacks. “He has remained forever young, just 33 years old.”

The gathering, held at the Garden of Reflection 9/11 Memorial in Lower Makefield Township, is a way to “honor not only the memory of the souls who were murdered, but also all that was taken from us that day,” Bane said.

The crowd stood in silence while bells tolled, marking the times when planes struck each of the Twin Towers and other key moments during that dark morning now a quarter century past.

Afterward, people walked through the Garden of Reflection, which was dedicated on the fifth anniversary of 9/11. The memorial was created by family members of 9/11 victims to honor their loved ones and all 2,973 people killed in the attacks.

Bucks County families remember loved ones they lost in the 9/11 attacks

Eighteen Bucks County residents died in the attacks, the most lost of any Pennsylvania county. Nine of those were from Lower Makefield Township.

Bane said the support that she experienced in the aftermath of the tragedy is what “gave [her] hope” and enabled her to carry on.

“If I had to put one word to this day, 9/11, it would be love,” she said. “Love is the great elixir. It’s the salve that heals. It’s the nourishment that fosters growth. It’s the antidote to hatred and anger. It softens the edges of grief and rage. It contains and holds us, and we saw this in action after those buildings came down.”

Judi Reiss, a Lower Makefield Township resident for more than 50 years, lost her son, Joshua Reiss, in the World Trade Center. She said the local community “wrapped [her] family in love” in the aftermath of the tragedy.

“What saved me and what saved my family was the community we live in,” Reiss, a member of the township board of supervisors, said. “Lower Makefield and Bucks County are possibly some of the warmest, kindest, lovingest community. …. People were so kind and so understanding. Even when I fell apart in the grocery store.”

Jonathan Reiss was on hand to offer his memories of his brother. Josh was a passionate Philadelphia Eagles fan, and he was planning to buy tickets to the Super Bowl for himself and his siblings that year, Jonathan Reiss said.

Ahead of the 2025 Super Bowl, Jonathan Reiss wrote to Howie Roseman, executive vice president of the Eagles, and asked Roseman to carry Josh’s World Trade Center ID, found at Ground Zero weeks after the attacks, throughout the game. Roseman agreed.

“He decided to remember my brother Josh, and that’s the kind of stuff that I get to live with and make me feel good, and it continues in this community,” Reiss said. “It continues [in] how people make my mom feel and my family feel.”

Elected officials, first responders emphasize carrying on the memory of 9/11

Bucks County Commissioner Bob Harvie called on those gathered at the event to remember the events of 9/11 and honor the victims.

“Memorials like this one, and ones around the country can provide a place where people can go to think and feel a connection to what was lost, give them a place of purpose,” he said. “But if we really want to honor those who we have lost … we need to do that through our actions.”

U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Bucks County, and Harvie’s opponent in Pennsylvania’s 1st Congressional District race this November, also spoke, highlighting the actions taken by two Bucks County residents and other passengers aboard United Airlines Flight 93 that day, when they overcame the hijackers and crashed the plane more than 200 miles away in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

“Let’s make sure that the next generation, who has no living memory of 9/11, never forgets what happened that day,” he said. “The pain that we felt, the resolve that resulted, and the incredible acts of heroism that define so many people, so many generations of firefighters, first responders, police officers, and the family members, several of who are here today, who have turned their pain into positive action.”

Joseph Kelly, chief of Lower Makefield Township Police, was a member of New Jersey Transit Police on Sept. 11, 2001. He recalled helping thousands of people evacuate Lower Manhattan and cross the Hudson River by ferry into Hoboken, New Jersey.

“There are images of that day that will never leave me,” Kelly said. “But one stands above all others. While thousands of people were desperately trying to escape danger, the first responders ran towards it.”

Kelly urged those gathered to “never forget.”

“Law enforcement must remain focused on prevention and detection of terrorism,” he said. “We must continue to train, to prepare, to protect, and recognize the warning signs that could be a precursor to the next event.”

Bucks County Sheriff Danny Ceisler, 34, said he, along with many others his age, “grew up in the shadow of 9/11.” He saw the first responders as “superheroes” and was inspired to join the U.S. Army at 18.

But once he was deployed to Afghanistan, Ceisler said he realized those first responders on 9/11 “were human.”

Ceisler said he lost six people he served with in combat. He lost two other comrades after they left the military to suicide.

He asked those in attendance to “remember that the effects of that day and the people that we sent both to that site on Sept. 11 to Ground Zero, and also we sent in wars following that, the effects are still being felt.”

“We still have the opportunity to take action to repair parts of that world that broke that day by ensuring that our first responders have the medical care and that our veterans have the medical care and that our VA is funded, and that people have the opportunity to get the mental health resources that they need,” he said.

Cancellation of ‘Remembrance in Light’ ceremony

In addition to Friday morning’s event, the township planned to host a ceremony at 6 p.m. at the same site.

A “Remembrance in Light” candlelight ceremony at the site was canceled after the township denied a permit request, citing the start of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, at sundown Friday.

In a statement on its website, the 9-11 Memorial Garden of Reflection, Inc., said the township had previously agreed to hold the Remembrance in Light ceremony on every fifth anniversary.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania sent a letter in July to the township solicitor, stating that the group’s First Amendment rights had been violated.

“We want to be direct about why the Remembrance in Light will not happen this year,” the statement on the website reads. “We were left with too little time to pursue legal action and still plan a ceremony worthy of what this milestone anniversary deserves. We also made a deliberate choice: we did not want to spend the month of September in court, and we did not want to place an undue financial burden on the residents of this township, the same residents who have stood beside us and supported this memorial for twenty years since its dedication, over a decision made by their elected officials, not by them.”

Neither the organization nor the township immediately responded to a request for comment.