WEBVTT

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[music]

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Hello everyone, I'm Koi Wire and welcome

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to a special edition of [music] CNN 10.

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Today marks 25 years since one of the

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darkest days in United States history,

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September 11th, 2001. A quarter century

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has passed since coordinated terrorist

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attacks shocked the nation, changed

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America and the world forever. Today, US

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President Donald Trump will honor those

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who died by attending a memorial at the

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Pentagon. Vice President JD Vance and

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Second Lady Usha Vance will travel to

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ground zero in New York City where the

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Twin Towers once stood. There, as they

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do every year at the National September

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11th Memorial and Museum, friends and

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family members will read aloud the names

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of all 2,977

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people killed in the attacks. Parents,

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children, brothers and sisters, friends,

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and co-workers, each one with a story.

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Later in the show, we'll speak with one

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of the architects who brought meaning to

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the solemn space, including something

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hidden in plain sight. But first, we

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will reflect on this day as it unfolded

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25 years ago. We're going to take you

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back to CNN's coverage as these events

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unfolded. Moment by moment, you'll hear

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the confusion and anguish as reports of

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what some initially believed might have

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been a terrible accident gave way to the

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realization that America was under

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attack.

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This [music] just in, you were looking

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at obviously a very disturbing live shot

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there. That is the World Trade Center.

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And we have unconfirmed reports this

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morning that a plane has crashed into

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one of the towers of the World Trade

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Center.

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>> The plane just uh was was uh coming in

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low and the t wing tips tilted [music]

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back and forth and then it it flattened

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out. It looks like it's uh hit at a

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slight angle into the World Trade

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[music] Center.

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>> I'd say the hole takes about

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That's our sixth, seven floors were

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taken out and there's more explosions

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right now. Hold on. People are running.

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Listen,

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>> hold on just a moment. We got an

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explosion inside.

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>> The building is exploding right now. You

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got people running up the street.

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>> Okay. I'm sorry, Wendy.

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He's

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not an election.

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>> Today, we've had a national tragedy.

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[music]

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Two airplanes

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have crashed into the World Trade Center

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in an apparent [music] terrorist attack

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on our country.

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I have spoken to the vice president, to

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the governor of New York, to the

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director [music] of the FBI,

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and have ordered that the full resources

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of the federal government

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go to help the victims and their

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families

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and the and to [music] conduct a

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full-scale investigation

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to hunt down and to find those folks who

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[music] committed this act. have a

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report now that the it was a plane that

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crashed into the Pentagon and we have a

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large fire at the Pentagon. The Pentagon

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is being evacuated.

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go.

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We have a report now that a large plane

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crashed this [music] morning uh north of

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the Somerset County Airport, which is in

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western Pennsylvania, not too terribly

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far from Pittsburgh. [music] We don't

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know if this is somehow connected to

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what has gone on in New York and

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Washington, but we do know that another

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plane has crashed, this one about 80

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miles south of Pittsburgh, or at least

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to the southeast of Pittsburgh.

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You can see [music] perhaps the second

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tower, the front tower, the top portion

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of which is collapsing.

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Good lord,

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there are no words.

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America faced some extraordinary

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questions in the aftermath of the

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attacks. What should rise from the place

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where the Twin Towers fell? How should

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lives be honored and remembered? In

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2003, the Lower Manhattan Development

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Corporation launched an international

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competition to design a permanent

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memorial at the World Trade Center site.

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More than 5,200 designs poured in from

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around the world. But the memorial that

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ultimately emerged contained an

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extraordinary idea called meaningful

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adjacencies, a way of arranging the

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names that reveal connections.

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Co-workers beside co-workers, friends

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beside friends, first responders

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alongside those with whom they served.

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Some connections are obvious, others

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deeply personal, relationships that a

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visitor might never otherwise know

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existed. Today, we're taking a closer

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look at the remarkable thought behind

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this memorial and how a place holding

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nearly 3,000 names can still make room

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for nearly 3,000 individual stories.

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I was honored to be his wife.

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I would have died for him.

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If it if

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they thought they were going to build

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over dead people, they would keep taking

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me with them.

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>> Today, the 9/11 memorial at ground zero

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draws millions of visitors annually. But

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in the immediate aftermath of the

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attacks, public opinion was divided over

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the site's future. Some pushed to

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rebuild where the tower stood, while

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others fought [music] to preserve the

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site where thousands died. Among them

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was Monica Iiken Murphy, who lost her

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husband on 911 and became a leading

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voice in establishing [music] the

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memorial.

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>> She says she watched on television as a

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plane hit the second [music] tower, the

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tower where her husband Michael worked

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on the 84th floor. I knew he was gone. I

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just I knew it. When you have a soul

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connection with someone, your brain says

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you're going to look for him. He could

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be a John Doe, but your heart knows. As

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soon as recovery was out, they were

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talking about rebuilding back. And I was

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like, there's no way they're going to

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build up with that. And they said, "Oh,

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Monica, this is prime real estate. You

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we're not we can't make this anything

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but build building." At the end of the

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day, we we fought for every square inch

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of this memorial and I it's it took 10

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years, you know, to get it done, but we

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and it was a lot of fighting in between.

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The design ultimately [music] selected

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for the memorial, reflecting absence,

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was created by architect Michael Arod

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and landscape architect Peter Walker.

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The arrangement of names is called

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meaningful adjacencies. A flow of names

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that links [music] co-workers to their

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friends. Places plane seatmates near

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each other. First responders among the

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people who they were believed to be

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trying to save. Amanda Sax [music]

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Mangold was the architect who

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collaborated with Michael Arod and spent

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years meticulously arranging the names

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around the pools. What was the

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reasoning? like why alphabetical order

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wasn't the way to organize those nearly

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3,000 names. Why? Why was that?

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>> Um there were a few reasons. The first

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reason for not wanting to do it

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alphabetically was simply because of the

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repetition of last names. There were 11

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Murphy's, two Patrick Murphy's. There

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were nine Kelly's, 12 Lynches.

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There were two people that shared a

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name, Michael Francis Lynch. two people,

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two distinct people. When you start

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organizing by alphabetical order, you

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lose um the individuality of people. And

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that was very important. It was

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>> Sax Mangold conducted extensive

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research, speaking with people by phone,

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searching online, and contacting

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organizations to determine how victims

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knew one another and whose names should

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be placed together. And what was that

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like for you personally hearing some of

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those stories and and fielding some of

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those requests?

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>> It was emotional. It was hard and there

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were many sort of let's say naysayers

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who didn't believe it was possible.

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There was a feeling that it wouldn't be

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feasible to do without um technological

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help. I mean obviously we work digitally

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as well but we organized it with our

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human brains. You know, these are human

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stories and um they were done by by

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humans as well.

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The structure of names also allows for a

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gathering of those mourning. So, the

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loved ones of a victim who visit the

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memorial can be nearby other grieving

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loved ones who are only a degree or two

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of separation away.

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>> My name is James Daell. I'm a lieutenant

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on the FDMY and I'm the son of Kevin

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Dell who was one of the 343 New York

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City firemen killed on September 11th.

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The crew and the people that my father

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responded here with uh they're all next

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to each other. Them all together it just

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you know it that's how I remember them.

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I just remember them all being together.

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I remember them sitting around the table

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um laughing with each other. So when I

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come here and I see those names in the

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same, you know, next to each other, just

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like they were sitting around a kitchen

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table, uh, you know, there's definitely

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a sense of uh resolve there, I think

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it's it's a true testament to to who

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they were and how they got here and how

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they died. So I think it's fitting.

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This is a sacred and hallowed space and

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that's why it's so important. Um that we

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make sure that people understand how

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amazing this memorial is and how you

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know the fight was worth it because I

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don't have him today but I have him

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here.

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>> 25 years can sound like a long time but

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for those who lost someone on September

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11th for those who survived and for the

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first responders who ran toward danger

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25 years may not feel very long at all.

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Every year on this day, we hear two

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words, never forget. But what does that

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really ask of us? As the years pass,

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perhaps it means memories don't have to

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fade. Learn the history. Listen to the

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stories. Honor not only those people who

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died, but how they lived, and then pass

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those stories forward. I'm Koi Wire.

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Thank you for remembering with us and

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joining us on this special edition of

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CNN 10.

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>> [music]