Rep. Jamie Allard: Twenty-five years after 9/11, America must remember what united us

By REP JAMIE ALLARD

Sept. 10, 2026 – Twenty-five years ago, on Sept. 11, 2001, the heart of America was broken.

Nearly 3,000 innocent people were murdered in New York City in a terrorist attack, at the Pentagon and aboard Flight 93 in Pennsylvania.

First responders climbed smoke filled stairwells while others fled to safety. Ordinary Americans aboard a hijacked airplane learned what was happening, made a decision and fought back.

An enemy sought to terrorize us. Instead, Americans stood together.

We flew our flags. We filled churches. We donated blood. We comforted strangers. Thousands enlisted in the military, knowing exactly what could be asked of them. Political labels briefly faded, and we remembered that before we were Republicans or Democrats, conservatives or liberals, we were Americans.

For a brief moment in time, we were one nation.

I will never forget that day.

My husband, Dan, and I were stationed at Fort Carson, Colorado. I was no longer serving, but Dan was a Green Beret assigned to the 10th Special Forces Group.

That morning, the post was locked down immediately. We lived in a house on the way to Gate 2. The soldiers had finished PT, gone home to shower and change, and were returning to work when they found that the world had changed.

Even these Special Forces warriors the “quiet professionals” who serve largely in secret, often unnoticed and unrecognized could not get onto the post.

So they came to our home.

One by one, special operators walked into our living room. Eventually, there were about 20 of them gathered there. They stayed until late in the evening, watching, waiting and trying to understand what had happened and what would come next.

Then, over the following days, they began to disappear into isolation. Notifications came. Missions were assigned. Soldiers deployed.

Soon, they were gone.

The Special Forces spouses were left behind to tend the home fires, care for children and households, and wait for calls that did not always come. They carried their own quiet burden, knowing where their loved ones had gone and why, but rarely knowing when or whether they would return.

That was how our family experienced Sept. 11. Every American who was alive that day has a story. We remember where we were, who called us and how it felt to watch the impossible unfold on television.

But a growing number of Americans have no personal memory of that day. An entire generation has been born and raised since the attacks. For them, Sept. 11 is history — something encountered in a textbook, a documentary or the memories of parents and grandparents.

That makes our duty to remember even more important.

We must tell them about the firefighters who climbed the stairs of the World Trade Center while thousands descended. We must tell them about the police officers, paramedics, military personnel and civilians who ran toward danger. We must tell them about the passengers of Flight 93, whose courage prevented an even greater loss of life.

We must also tell them what happened on Sept. 12.

Americans lowered their voices and raised their flags. Neighbors checked on neighbors. Communities gathered to pray. We mourned together, and we resolved together that our country would not surrender to fear.

The unity that followed Sept. 11 did not last. Over the past 25 years, division has once again taken root. Too often, disagreement is treated as hatred. Political opponents are treated as enemies. Institutions that should serve the people have lost their trust, and many Americans wonder whether we still share enough common ground to remain one nation.

But Sept. 11 reminds us that our common ground is still there.

It is found in the firefighter who enters a burning building. It is found in the police officer who answers a call without knowing what waits on the other side. It is found in the soldier who leaves home to defend people he may never meet. It is found in the spouse who waits, the child who prays and the Gold Star family that carries its grief for a lifetime.

It is found whenever an American puts duty before comfort and love of neighbor before self.

The lesson of Sept. 11 is not only that evil exists. It is that courage exists, too. Sacrifice exists. Faith, patriotism and brotherhood exist. When Americans remember who we are, hatred cannot defeat us and fear cannot rule us.

Our nation is not perfect, but it is precious. The freedoms protected by our Constitution are rare in human history, and they survive only when each generation chooses to defend them.

We honor those lost on Sept. 11 not simply by recalling their names once a year, but by living as citizens worthy of their sacrifice. We honor them by teaching our children the truth about that day. We honor them by supporting those who serve, caring for the families left behind and refusing to allow political division to erase our shared identity.

Twenty-five years later, the words still fall short. They cannot fully describe the horror we witnessed, the grief families endured or the resolve that swept across America.

But we can still remember.

We can still teach.

We can still raise the flag.

And we can still choose to stand together as one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Jamie Allard is a member of the Alaska House of Representatives for District 23, representing Chugiak and Eagle River.