Sunday marked the day thousands of lives were lost in the World Trade Center attacks 15 years ago.

In New York, family members, survivors and dignitaries attended a ceremony at Ground Zero that included the reading of names of the dead, moments of silence and tolling of bells. 

Nearly 3,000 people died when hijacked planes slammed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, on Sept. 11, 2001.

It was the deadliest terror attack on American soil. 

Heather Fryer, associate Professor of history was in Boston teaching and finishing her doctoral degree at Boston College when the planes crashed into the World Trade Center.

“I was getting ready to go to campus to meet with my dissertation director when I got a frantic voicemail from her saying, ‘I can’t meet with everything that is happening. I’m so upset, I don’t know what’s going to happen,’” Fryer said. 

After turning on the TV, Fryer discovered what had happened and told her roommate, whose family lived in Harlem

“She thought it was a ham-handed attempt at absurd humor, and I didn’t blame her. Within a few hours, though, we gathered at my apartment waiting to hear from my roommate’s, relatives and friends in New York, and watching the rest of the story unfold,” said Fryer.

After the attack, Fryer’s nights were filled with fear and uncertainty.

“For the first three nights, I was awakened by police sirens many times and was worried that my immigrant neighbors were being taken in sweeps,” Fryer said.

Only four hours away from New York City, many New Yorkers attended Boston College. Several of Fryer’s friends, colleagues and students had lost one or both parents, siblings, friends or relatives in the attack. 

In Omaha, Todd Salzman, Creighton’s    faculty chair in Catholic Theological Studies was getting his twin boys ready for daycare and watching the morning news when the first plane hit. 

That day, Salzman had two sections of theological ethics.

“We began class with a prayer for the victims, families, friends and first responders and then watched news coverage of the event in both classes,” Salzman said. 

Salzman remembered students and faculty being stunned.

In Bethesda, Maryland, right outside Washington, D.C., Heider College of Business sophomore, Maddy Hopkins, had just started kindergarten. 

“My one memory from the day was the car ride home from school,” Hopikins said.  My mom was in a complete panic and I didn’t know why. Only one radio station was working and the only thing that made any sense to me was a man yelling ‘Everyone get in your homes immediately.’”

Hopkins’ father was working downtown in Washington D.C. less than a block from the Capitol Building. The whole city was on lockdown and not allowing anyone to leave. 

“With two small children, my dad knew he had to get out of the area of the Capitol,” Hopkins said. The metro wasn’t running and he had no cell service so he ran home from downtown that night and arrived home very late. My mom waited up for him all night unsure if he

was alive.” 

For Americans everywhere, 9/11 has directly and indirectly affected their lives. 

“Like so many of us, I have a deep sadness about that day that I doubt will ever leave me,” said Fryer. “And I never take for granted that a day is going to play out the way that I imagine when I wake up in the morning, because absolutely anything can happen.” 

9/11 is an iconic day even for those who do not remember it or were not born yet.

 “9/11 changed all of our lives, however, at a young age I realized that because of where I lived, there was no guarantee that my whole family would make it home safely that night,” said Hopkins. 

It’s been 15 years since the United States was violently attacked by foreign enemies.

Today Americans are still trying to make sense of the attacks, especially after subsequent recent ones across the globe. 

“It’s as if we’re looking for the meaning each Sept. 11, each time with another year’s perspective that may hold the key to what happened that day and what it means. I hope that we discover it soon, because unless the American people can integrate this event into their histories in a meaningful way, Americans will never be able to forge a common path forward.  As the divisiveness of the present moment suggests, the nation really needs it,” said Hopkins. 

Despite the horror of 9/11, America emerged unified and ready to combat

these threats.

Americans will always remember the tragic day and never forget the imprint it left on the nation.