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Live Coverage of 9/11 Ceremony at the Pentagon. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired September 11, 2026 - 09:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[09:30:00]

FRANK SILLER, BROTHER OF FALLEN FDNY FIREFIGHTER STEPHEN SILLER: Tee in the ground for my brother Stephen because we were golf --

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Do you really?

SILLER: Well, yes, because we played golf all the time. We snuck out early in the morning, had a lot of kids. We squeezed in golf like you can't believe it. You know, we loved spending time with each other. We were supposed to play golf on 9/11. But he had a call to duty, just like all these great heroes. They run towards danger while everybody else, rightfully so, is running away from it.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

SILLER: So, yes, it's, in some ways, I can't believe it. And in other ways, if eel like it was yesterday.

BOLDUAN: When we were watching Jason Carroll giving kind of the minute by minute together --

SILLER: Yes.

BOLDUAN: You had said, everyone, as painful as it is, everyone needs to see this. And it had me thinking about the tour that you have made for the last four plus months with that steel beam. And what have you learned? What did you hear? What surprised you? Because so many people, the memories fade, the pain subsides, but what surprised you in this process?

SILLER: Well, I was so overwhelmed with joy and sadness, of course, at the same time.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

SILLER: And they coexist, right?

BOLDUAN: Yes.

SILLER: That so many families came. They -- like, mothers and fathers, let's say, that are 40 years old or 45 years old, that were so young on 9/11, and they're bring their children now. And they all went up there. And I can't tell you how many people put their hand on it. And we asked people to do that and feel the sacrifice that was made. And they prayed as a family. I think it is very powerful to see that, you know, hundreds and thousands of times, for sure.

You know, when I was watching the clip that you just had prior before we came on, and I told you at 9:59 a.m., you know, every day when its 9:59, if I look at my phone or clock or whatever it may be, and I see that time, to me, that's when I lost my brother. That's every single day. 9/11, every single day when its 9/11. That's what goes through family's minds what -- that lost somebody that day. I don't expect other people to do that, but this is, you know, this is the loss that we have.

I turned to my mother-in-law at 9:59. I said, Nancy, I think I just lost my brother. Got a call later on in the day from a firefighter down there and said, Stephen's on the list of missing firefighters. It's really bad. His name is Ritchie Obermeyer (ph). He lived a couple of houses away from my brother. And he said, Frank, nobody's coming home. And I had to go into -- my siblings were all in my living room, and I -- and I had to say that little boy Stephen, who my parents died by the time he was ten years old, we raised him. He was as much a son to us as he was a brother. To say he's not coming home. And that his five kids weren't going to have this outrageous human being with them for the rest of their lives.

And -- but we can't change that, but we can change how we attack life. And my parents were Franciscans. The third secular order, third order, right. And that's, you know, they always taught us that -- my mother, you know, to offer it up to God.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

SILLER: And, of course, faith can carry you through all. But also that you had to do something. Like, prayers are good. And I pray every day, multiple times every day, but you have to do something. And that's what we decide to do with the foundation that we're going to do something good, tangible, pay off mortgages, build smart homes for catastrophically injured service members, make sure that, you know, homeless veterans are off the street. Twenty-seven thousand, five hundred in the last three years. And we built apartments for them. It's incredible what we do.

BOLDUAN: It is incredible.

SILLER: It is. And then the last but not least, the Mae and George Siller, named after my mom and dad, Scholarship Program, where we pay off the college scholarships, tuition for these kids that lost their mom and dad protecting you and I, you know. So, you know, we say freedom isn't free. Families like mine, other families know that that's a true statement. But we -- the rest of America is coming together because we've been able to help so many families from the kindness and generosity of Americans.

BOLDUAN: You have led by example with your love.

I guess, real quick, just what your -- a memory of -- a memory of Stephen on this day. What are you thinking about?

SILLER: I think of Stephen. He was the biggest buster in the world. His children remind me a lot of him, you know. He would do anything for anybody, any time of the day. I called him multiplicity man because he had -- everyone thought he was their best friend, and he was, but he -- his nephews and nieces adored him. He was so kind to all of them. He was just a great brother. He was an incredible human being.

The proof is what he did.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

SILLER: Not in words and in deeds. And that's the story of life, not in words and in deeds. And indeed his act of courage, on 9/11, has changed many other people's lives in a very positive way.

[09:35:04]

BOLDUAN: Thank you for sharing just a portion of today.

SILLER: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: You've already been -- you've had quite a morning already. Thank you for sharing a part of your day with me.

SILLER: A pleasure. Really appreciate you (ph).

BOLDUAN: It's really wonderful to see you.

SILLER: God bless.

BOLDUAN: Thank you.

Frank Stiller, everyone. A wonderful man.

Now I want to go to the Pentagon where there will soon be a moment of silence marking the moment 184 people were killed when American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the building's west side.

Let's listen in to the ceremony underway now in Arlington, Virginia.

(CHOIR SINGING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ladies and gentlemen, please stand for the invocation provided by Chaplain Rear Admiral Carey Cash, United States Navy Chief of Chaplains.

CHAPLAIN REAR ADMIRAL CAREY CASH, UNITED STATES NAVY CHIEF OF CHAPLAINS: Please join me in a moment of silence as we honor the fallen who at this hour, 25 years ago, lost their lives while serving their nation. We remember the fallen and pray for the families.

(MOMENT OF SILENCE)

(TAPS PLAYING)

CASH: Let us pray. Almighty God, who is our refuge and strength, a very present help in

trouble, help us to be still and know that you are God. Though the earth should change and the mountains slip into the heart of the sea, though all should roar and quake at the swelling pride of man, the Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our stronghold.

Draw near, oh God, that in the faces of those we have lost, we might see your face. That in their stories we might hear your voice. That in the gift of their sacrifice, we might know the strength of your love and the assurance of your presence.

[09:40:08]

Oh God, bless those who grieve. Help them see that you regard their tears as your very own. Help us remember, as a people and a nation, that though the cause of evil prosper, yet the truth alone is strong, and that in you the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth, our momentary light afflictions cannot be compared to the eternal weight of glory yet to be revealed. Grant us the faith to see what our eyes cannot. That you love us. That you meet us in the hour of our greatest need, and that you offer us a future and a hope.

Oh Lord, we are grateful for all who answered the crisis on this day 25 years ago. Many answered with their lives. To our first responders, grant them strength to remain steadfast in their duties. To our military services and their leaders, grant them virtue in difficult hours and courage in crisis. And to our beloved nation, America the beautiful, which has known your blessing and the fruit of your divine favor, grant us the grace to return to our first love, to the God who called us into being, and the one who calls us still. For righteousness exalts a nation, and you are able to save to the uttermost all who call upon you. Heal us, oh God, our land and our lives.

We ask these things in your holy name. Amen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ladies and gentlemen, please be seated.

The flag that now hangs off the side of the building was unfurled by the technical rescue unit of the 911th Engineer Company, originally activated in 1989. The defining moment in the unit's history came on September 11, 2001, when American Airlines Flight 77 struck the Pentagon.

In the immediate aftermath of the attack, the soldiers of the company answered the call, conducting ten continuous days of rescue and recovery operations in dangerous and devastating conditions.

Exactly five years after the attack, the company was officially redesignated the 911th Technical Rescue Engineer Company in honor of its response to the Pentagon. We thank them for their service.

Ladies and gentlemen, General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

GEN. DAN CAINE, JOINT CHIEFS CHAIRMAN: Good morning. Mr. President, Madam First Lady, Secretary Hegseth, other members of

the president's cabinet, Secretary Rice, senior military leaders from our civilian side of the department, and Joint Chiefs of Staff.

My fellow Americans, and most importantly the survivors and the families of the fallen that are here with us today, thank you for being here to mourn, to honor, and to, most importantly, remember those we lost here today 25 years ago. Today is not just a story of loss. It is also a story of great American courage, selfless service, and those who've made the choice to carry those memories forward.

Today, and every day here at the Pentagon and around the nation, we remember the 184 lives taken here at the Pentagon and aboard American Airlines Flight 77. The thousands we lost in New York and the 40 heroes aboard United Airlines Flight 93.

Twenty-five years ago, in the moment of greatest danger, Americans moved towards one another. Here at the Pentagon, service members and civilians alike entered the smoke and fire to bring their teammates home to safety.

[09:45:10]

First responders in New York City ran towards danger and climbed thousands of stairs to selflessly help their fellow American citizens. And north of here, the 40 passengers and crew of United Flight 93, who did not, that morning, set out to be called into the service of our nation, but did so and moved towards the problem. When they learned what was at stake, they chose to act, for strangers they would never meet.

In the skies over Shanksville, Pennsylvania, that very morning, America began to fight back. The courage of those extraordinary Americans in Pennsylvania, in New York, and right here on these hallowed grounds did not end when the smoke cleared and the fires went out. Because survivors and families have carried it forward through service, through sacrifice, and through remembrance.

For some, that meant returning to work here in this building, to the deed required in front of them, to their teammates and to the mission. For others, we continue to carry their legacy forward.

We carry it forward in the names we speak, in the memories we preserve, and in the spirit of the American people who, as a nation, will always answer the call to serve. We carry it forward in the selfless acts of compassion and courage for each other and for our fellow Americans. And rest assured, we will always remain vigilant, always thinking about and always being prepared for the potentially unimaginable, so we can protect and defend the precious gift that the heroes of 9/11 gave us all. Ordinary Americans answering the call to serve, but giving us the gift of a perfect, selfless example.

So many of us that day who were here saw courageous Americans giving us that gift. And to the survivors and the families here today, your presence honors those that we lost today and remind us -- reminds us of your strength that we continued forward in this building in New York and around this country during one of our darkest chapters.

We can't restore what was taken from us that day, but we can make and continue to hold a solemn promise, never to forget. May we always serve and live in a manner worthy of that sacrifice. And today, on this most special day, as we're here honoring our fallen, may we also remember those out there right now in America's joint force, doing our nation's business and their families that support them.

Thank you very much.

It's now my sincere honor to introduce the 66th secretary of state, the Honorable Dr. Condoleezza Rice.

Madam secretary.

CONDOLEEZZA RICE FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: Good morning.

Mr. President, I'm grateful to be honored -- honored to be with you today at these events of 9/11 and to commemorate them as we should. Thank you for your dedicated service and leadership of our country.

First Lady Trump, thank you for the graciousness and kindness with which you serve.

Secretary Hegseth, thank you for this commemoration of the sacrifices of that day. You are ensuring that the legacy of the victims and the many acts of heroism here will live on in this place, the heart of America's defense.

General Caine, thank you for your presence and for representing the commitment of our men and our women in uniform, to our security and to the defense of our values.

That fateful day 25 years ago will forever be emblazoned on the heart and the soul of America.

[09:50:03]

No one old enough to remember that day will ever forget where they were when they learned of the unfolding tragedy. The attack came quite literally out of the blue. An assault on our cities that we had not experienced since the War of 1812.

I was at my desk at the White House that day when my executive assistant, a young Army officer, told me that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. What a strange accident, I thought. I called President Bush, who was reading to children at an education event in Florida. He, too, thought that it must have just been an accident. But within 17 minutes, a second plane hit the World Trade Center. The president was rushed to Air Force One. I was hurried to a bunker in the White House by the Secret Service, where I joined the vice president. Secretary of State Colin Powell was in Peru and trying to get home, and CIA Director George Tenet had been moved to an undisclosed location.

Soon, the brave passengers aboard United Flight 93, hearing of the destruction, decided that the terrorists would go no further. They rushed the cockpit in a sacrificial act that likely prevented an attack on our nation's capital.

And here at the Pentagon, the nerve center of America's defense, another story was unfolding. I was told by the officers of the Situation Room that they couldn't reach Secretary Rumsfeld. His phone was just ringing and ringing and ringing. I remember turning to a television screen, and the horror and the shock that I felt. There was a smoking crater, a vast, empty space in the side of the Pentagon. There was no doubt the United States of America was at war.

Today, we remember the thousands of innocent lives that were tragically taken 25 years ago. And here at the Pentagon, we feel the presence of 184 souls who were lost. Behind every name that we recite there is a story, a life that mattered, a future unfulfilled, a void, a vast empty space in the heart of a husband, a wife, a son, a daughter, a sibling, a colleague or a friend.

We come together today to say that they will never be forgotten and to honor their memory. We come to, to remember the courage of the survivors who were working here on that day. People ran toward the danger. They searched through the smoke. Secretary Rumsfeld himself pulled people to safety as his security detail begged him to flee the danger. First responders, trained for the moment, and ordinary people who had never imagined a moment like this, joined forces to rescue those who they could, and to pray for those that they could not.

It is fitting that here at the Pentagon we reflect not just on what happened here, but what in that moment of crisis people did here. They summoned a will and a spirit, a sense of obligation that our military lives by every day. I will stand between danger and my fellow citizens. I will leave no comrade behind. I will go, I will serve, I will do my duty.

And in acts large and small across America, citizens did the same. People gave blood. They filled houses of worship to pray. They took care of the vulnerable, children, the elderly, the infirm. They comforted families of the fallen.

Across the world, air traffic controllers worked feverishly to land diverted planes safely. NATO, for the first time in its history under Article Five, declared that an attack upon one was an attack upon all. And in Canada, ordinary citizens took in stranded travelers, complete strangers. They took them into their homes, often for days at a time. Heroism and compassion were commonplace, but uncommon in the depth and the breadth of their generosity and their kindness.

[09:55:06]

We responded in ways that the evil men who attacked us could never have imagined. They believed that we would be terrorized into retreat. Well, they picked the wrong people. They did not know us, then or now. They did not know that our strength is in our belief in our country and in each other. That we are grateful for the sacrifices of 250 years that gave us this blessed land. That we share a certainty that this country is exceptional. That when challenged and tested, we are defiant and determined. And for many, like me, we hold a bedrock faith that America has a role in God's plan for a better future for mankind.

The days immediately after 9/11 were hard and trying and emotional. The day after the attacks, I accompanied President Bush to the Pentagon to thank the first responders. As we exited the freeway, I could see the hole in the building and the dense air still filled with smoke. I walked along to encounter men and women who had worked for more than 24 hours, with virtually no rest. They were exhausted, but they were committed to a person. They expressed gratitude that they could help. They gave me faith that we would be all right.

Arriving back at my apartment that evening, my clothes had a strange smell. What is that, I thought. Well, it was the smell of smoke and the residue of soot from the Pentagon. It was for me, a moment of profound sadness.

On Friday, in the president's motorcade to National Cathedral for the prayer service, it felt as if we were in a funeral procession. But then we turned up Massachusetts Avenue. Bells were tolling from churches along the way. The streets were lined with people of all shapes and sizes, all ages and colors. And one man stood out. He carried a handmade sign that said simply, "God bless America. We will not be terrorized."

Inside the cathedral, I and others sought comfort for ourselves and for the nation. And then, at the very end, the combined armed forces choir sang "The Battle Hymn Of The Republic." The original words of that Civil War hymn had been, "as he died to make men holy. Let us die to make men free."

Over the years, congregations, I guess hoping not to sound offensive, had changed the words to, "as he died to make men holy. Let us live to make men free." Much to my surprise and my gratitude, I heard the choir sing the original words. "Let us die to make men free."

As the climactic amen, amen rang through the church. I felt my own spirit renewed. Our country would always mourn the dead. But now we had to defiantly defend America. Those who perished would not have died in vain.

As I close, I want to say something deeply personal. Those of us in authority on that day did not see the nature of the danger in time to prevent the attack of 9/11. We did what we knew to do, but by definition it was not enough. I am grateful that there was not a follow-on attack. For that miracle, we owe a deep debt of gratitude to our armed forces and to the intelligence community. Their service and their sacrifice in the war on terror kept us safe. But I will always carry deep, personal remorse for the pain that you, the families of the fallen, still feel, and for the trauma that our country endured.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer, with Pamela Brown. And you're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

And we've been listening to dramatic words from Condoleezza Rice, speaking over at the Pentagon, as the world marks 25 years since the September 11th terror attacks. [09:59:46]

This moment of silence occurring in New York now.

(BELL RINGING)

(MOMENT OF SILENCE)