For the first time, this year’s 9/11 remembrance ceremony at Ground Zero included a dedicated moment of silence for the thousands who have died from illnesses linked to the Sept. 11 attacks.
The solemn addition marked the seventh pause in the annual tribute, coming after the reading of the names of the 2,977 people killed on Sept. 11, 2001, and the six victims of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
In previous years, the ceremony observed six moments of silence: the times the North and South Towers were hit, the moment the Pentagon was struck, the collapses of the Twin Towers, and the crash of Flight 93 near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
More than 9,400 people are now estimated to have died from 9/11-related illnesses — a toll more than three times higher than the number killed on the day of the terrorist attacks.
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Many others continue to live with cancers, respiratory diseases and lasting injuries tied to the toxic conditions and devastation that followed the attacks.
Among those remembered was a man whose family has endured two generations of 9/11 loss: a retired NYPD officer who recently died after a long fight with a 9/11-related illness, years after his FDNY son was killed in the attacks, his granddaughter shared during the name-reading ceremony.
John Napolitano Sr., a father and retired New York City police officer, died in 2024 “after courageously battling a post 9/11 illness,” according to his obituary.
“But I find peace knowing that they’re finally together again,” the young woman said at the annual Ground Zero ceremony, speaking of her father and grandfather.
Her father, FDNY Lt. John P. Napolitano Jr., is remembered for his courage on Sept. 11 and was last seen heading into the North Tower with Rescue 2 before the building came down.
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His father, an NYPD officer, spent the following weeks combing through the wreckage at Ground Zero in search of his heroic son, who was 33 when he died.
Napolitano Jr. was survived by two young daughters.
“What an honor it is to be one of your girls,” Napolitano’s daughter said at the ceremony.
“There’s not a day that goes by that we don’t think of you, tell stories about you and laugh with you. You will always live on in us.”
The seventh moment of silence will be a permanent addition to the annual ceremony, the 9/11 Memorial & Museum said earlier this year.
The new moment of silence for post-9/11 victims was years in the making and comes at the behest of advocates, who fought for years for legislation that protects 9/11 survivors facing chronic illnesses.
The new moment of silence also offers the opportunity for the next generation of Americans to understand the spirit and heroism of those who responded to the attacks and continued contributing to the neighborhood despite not knowing what effects the toxic air would bring years down the line.
