Twenty-five years ago, 19 terrorists hijacked four planes and carried out an attack that would shake the nation at its core and change the course of world history.

On Friday, Newton commemorated that tragedy, the lives lost and the heroism displayed on that day.

Sept. 11, 2001, brought a cloudless sky—much like the one that graced us on Friday—with no warning of the storm that was coming a couple of hours after dawn.

“We remember the silence that fell across our streets—a silence so deep that it felt that the whole world could stop breathing, and in that silence, we heard something we had never quite heard before: the full weight of how fragile life is, and how fiercely, instinctively, we reach for one another when it is threatened,” American Legion Chaplain Al Cecchinelli said in his remarks. “To the families of Newton who lost someone that day, a mother who kissed you goodbye and never came home, a sister, a colleague, a friend—we hold you this day with the full tenderness this community is capable of. Your loss has never been abstract. It was a name. It was a face. It was a chair that has been empty for 25 years, and we do not look away from that.”

Newton  lost eight people that day 25 years ago:

• Mark Bavis
• Paige Farley-Hackel
• Nicholas Humber
• Aaron Jacobs
• Stuart Meltzer
• Richard Ross
• Rahma Salie
• Amy Toyen

As is done every year, family members of those lost took turns reading the text of the city’s 9/11 Memorial and talking about how their families have carried on in the quarter century since the tragedy.

Some in the audience weren’t born yet when the Sept. 11 attacks happened, which underscores what Mayor Marc Laredo called an urgency to keep the memory of that day alive for future generations.

One of those young people is Judah Belli, a homeschooled student who won first place in the 9/11 Memorial Committee Essay Contest. His essay topic was personal: His parents met because of the Sept. 11 attacks.

“If it never happened, thousands of people would be alive today, but I may not have been born,” Belli said.

His parents—Emily and Andrew—were students at a Canadian college, and they bonded while waiting to hear that their family members in Massachusetts and Washington, D.C., were OK. They later started dating, got married and started a family.

“This is the American dream I was born into, the dream that offered a life for my parents, a dream that births hope after a terrorist nightmare,” Belli said. “In the 25 years since 9/11 and the 250 years since the founding of our nation, what is to be learned? We have learned that the United States can pass a strength test. We experienced an assault not only on a few buildings or even a couple of cities, but an assault on the entire nation, an assault on the very idea of freedom.”

You can watch the entire ceremony on NewTV.

MORE IMAGES

Firefighters observe Newton’s 25th anniversary Sept. 11 commemoration ceremony at the Newton Fire Department Headquarters on Sept. 11, 2026. Photo by Bryan McGonigle

Crowds of people, including Thomas Flynn, standing, observe Newton’s 25th anniversary Sept. 11 commemoration ceremony at the Newton Fire Department Headquarters on Sept. 11, 2026. Photo by Bryan McGonigle

(From Left) Fire Chief Greg Gentile, Police Chief Tim Cohoon, and Assistant Fire Chief Michael Bianchi observe the 25th Anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks during a ceremony at the Newton Fire Department Headquarters on Sept. 11, 2026. Photo by Bryan McGonigle

Crowds gather at the Newton Fire Department Headquarters to observe the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. Photo by Bryan McGonigle

American Legion Chaplain Al Cecchinelli delivers remarks at Newton’s 25th anniversary Sept. 11 commemoration ceremony on Sept. 11, 2026. Photo by Bryan McGonigle

Middlesex County Sheriff Peter Koutoujian speaks at Newton’s 25th anniversary Sept. 11 commemoration ceremony on Sept, 11, 2026. Photo by Bryan McGonigle

City Councilors Tarik Lucas and John Oliver, Newton Community Engagement and Inclusion Director Hattie Kerwin Derrick, and American Legion Post Commander Don Gentile (with former City Councilor Emily Norton and current City Councilor Jacob Silber behind them) observe Newton’s 25th anniversary Sept. 11 commemoration ceremony on Sept, 11, 2026. Photo by Bryan McGonigle

Mayor Marc Laredo speaks at Newton’s 25th anniversary Sept. 11 commemoration ceremony on Sept, 11, 2026. Photo by Bryan McGonigle

Lucas Johnson leads the crowd in the Pledge of Allegiance at Newton’s 25th anniversary Sept. 11 commemoration ceremony on Sept, 11, 2026. Photo by Bryan McGonigle

Avery Johnson sings the National Anthem at Newton’s Sept. 11 25th anniversary commemoration ceremony on Sept, 11, 2026. Photo by Bryan McGonigle