Reading remembers: community marks 25th anniversary of Sept. 11 on the town common

Residents, DPW employees, and town staff listen to remarks during the ceremony. Photo by Taylor Gregory.

(5-minute read)

Reading paused on Friday morning, September 11, 2026, as residents, first responders, DPW employees, and town staff gathered on the town common to mark 25 years since the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in New York, at the Pentagon, and in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

The 8:30 am ceremony opened with the Reading Police Department color guard and the Reading Fire Department bagpiper. Firefighters stood in dress blues for the ceremony while others remained on duty in uniform. Select Board members Chair Melissa Murphy, Vice Chair Karen Rose-Gillis, Karen Herrick, and Chris Haley were all in attendance, along with School Committee member Geoffrey Coram.

Bells, Taps, and a final call

Fire Chief Rick Nelson looks on as a firefighter tolls the ceremonial bell. Photo by Taylor Gregory.

Fire Chief Rick Nelson opened the ceremony, followed by future Police Chief Christine Amendola, who offered additional comments. Father Patrick of Austin Preparatory School delivered the invocation, reading a prayer recited at Ground Zero in 2008 that called for peace among people. The flag was lowered to half-staff, colors were presented, and Brian Miller played Taps on the trumpet.

A retired firefighter led the ceremonial tolling of the bell, a tradition typically used to mark a loss but repurposed on Friday to honor those being remembered. The bell was struck four rounds of five tolls each.

Deputy Chief Amendola then announced that dispatch would deliver a final call, a tradition typically used in fire and police departments to formally mark the end of watch. She noted the 37 Port Authority officers and 23 New York City police officers who died that day. Dispatch read the words broadcast over radios: “Your sacrifice is remembered. We will have the watch from here.” Bagpipes played again, followed by a moment of silence led by Chief Nelson for those lost on Sept. 11, 2001, and in the years since due to related illness.

“The meaning of the day is passed on”

Town Manager Jayne Wellman told the crowd that their presence reflected the importance of remembering and reflecting on Sept. 11, recalling images and moments from that day that remain vivid for those who lived through it. She noted that a generation is now growing up without a memory of the attacks, making it all the more important that the meaning of the day continues to be passed down.

Town Manager Jayne Wellman addresses the crowd from the podium. Photo by Taylor Gregory.

Wellman spoke of people who went to work or reported for duty that Tuesday and never made it home, and of first responders who ran toward the damage, carrying both physical and emotional tolls that in some cases persist today. She said the nation changed in ways that are still felt 25 years later, and that even now it is difficult to grasp the scale of the loss.

She also reflected on how the country’s sense of connection was tested by fear and uncertainty in the aftermath, noting that Muslim Americans were targeted amid that uncertainty, and urged choosing compassion over suspicion. Turning to Reading’s own public safety personnel, Wellman said local firefighters and police officers train to protect the community without knowing every danger they may face, and that their willingness to answer the call is part of what keeps Reading safe and resilient. She closed by asking residents to remember those who did not return, the families who lost loved ones, and the impacts that have followed since, and to carry the lessons of that day forward in a way that makes unity truly inclusive.

Chair Melissa Murphy read the proclamation from the Select Board, marking the anniversary.

A Toll that continues

Veteran Services Officer Will Valliere addresses the crowd at the ceremony. Photo by Taylor Gregory.

Veteran Services Officer Will Valliere told attendees that Sept. 11 changed the country, the world, and the lives of an entire generation. He said the passage of time does not erase the empty seat at the table, the missed birthdays, or a presence that is simply no longer there.

Valliere asked the crowd to remember the police officers, firefighters, and other workers who answered the call that day, as well as those who spent the following two decades working to prevent another attack, some giving their lives in that effort. He noted that a 20-year military mission beginning in Afghanistan followed the attacks, one long enough that children born on Sept. 11, 2001, could themselves serve in it before it ended. Gold Star families, he said, continue to carry the weight the country can never fully repay.

Valliere added that Sept. 11 did not end when the fires at the World Trade Center were extinguished, pointing to the respiratory illnesses and post-traumatic stress that responders have carried from what they were exposed to that day. He said “never forget” has to be more than words, calling for continued support of those carrying visible and invisible wounds and for teaching younger generations what that sacrifice requires.

Brian Miller plays taps as the Reading Police Department honor guard present the colors on the town common. Photo by Taylor Gregory.

Former Town Manager Bob LeLacheur offered personal remarks, recalling that he worked on the 42nd floor of the World Trade Center in New York in the years leading up to Sept. 11. He remembered the building’s floor-to-ceiling windows and fire safety meetings where employees asked whether they would really be expected to walk all the way down if the elevators were out. He asked those gathered to consider the scale of the impact on ordinary people that day, greater than most can imagine.

Chief Nelson delivered closing remarks to end the ceremony.

Beyond the mourning

The ceremony on the Common was a remembrance of the 2,977 lives lost on Sept. 11, 2001, but the day’s legacy extends well beyond that morning and into the fabric of life in the United States over the 25 years since. Airport security was reshaped almost overnight, from the creation of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to the routines of removing shoes and belts that are now second nature to travelers. The Patriot Act, passed weeks after the attacks, expanded government surveillance and law enforcement powers in the name of national security, a trade-off between safety and personal liberty that the country continues to debate today.

Police officers post the colors as a bagpiper plays nearby. Photo by Taylor Gregory.

The anniversary is also an occasion to weigh the difference between patriotism and nationalism, and to recognize when honoring a shared history calls for humility rather than triumphalism. The war on terror that followed Sept. 11 continued to shape relations in the Middle East a quarter of a century later, and a full accounting of that day includes not only the horror of the attacks themselves, but a clear-eyed look at the events and decisions that preceded them, so that the lessons drawn lead toward a more peaceful future rather than conflict.

That, in the end, is the charge behind “never forget”: not simply to hold on to the grief and memory, but to learn from the past well enough to build something better from it.