The Virginia War Memorial in Richmond will again host the Commonwealth’s Patriot Day Ceremony, Thursday, September 11, 2025 at 11 a.m. in the Shrine of Memory-Global War on Terrorism and Beyond.
This annual event will officially commemorate the 24th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Arlington and the downing of the commercial aircraft in Shanksville Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001. September 11 has been designated each year as Patriot Day, a National Day of Mourning, by the United States Congress to honor and remember the 2,997 men and women who died and the more than 6,000 who were injured on that day.
Keynote speaker will be Rear Admiral Samuel J. Cox (U.S. Navy, Retired), Director of the Naval History and Heritage Command and Curator of the U.S. Navy. The ceremony will also include selections of patriotic music and the placement of wreaths in memory of those who perished or were injured during the 2001 attacks.
Members of the public are invited and encouraged to attend and participate in the ceremony. Attendees should arrive by 10:45 a.m. to be seated. There is no admission charge and parking is available in the Virginia War Memorial surface lot and parking deck. The Memorial will be open for visitation from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on September 11 and the documentary film, A New Century, A New War, will be shown all day in the Memorial’s Reynolds Theater.