Sacramento remembers 9/11’s heroes 24 years later. ‘Freedom is never free’
Bells tolled at September 11 Memorial Plaza at Cal Expo Thursday to remember the lives lost in the terror attacks 24 years ago and honor the service and sacrifice of the men and women who rushed toward danger that terrible day.
They sounded eight times, each for the unthinkable.
They tolled for the passengers, pilot and crew lost aboard American Airlines Flight 11, which crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center; and United Airlines Flight 175, which crashed moments later into the South Tower.
A bell tolled for United Airlines 93, whose passengers sacrificed themselves on the Pennsylvania countryside to save the lives of countless others; and for American Airlines Flight 77 which crashed into the Pentagon. One tolled for the lives lost when the towers collapsed. A bell tolled for those who leapt to their deaths and another for those died trapped in the towers’ elevators. The sound rang out for the police and firefighters who ran toward doom, some never to return.
“We honor and remember the 3,000 who lost their lives and the families who carry the weight of that day. Their sacrifices are a reminder that freedom is never free. The memories of that day are still fresh, but so is our resolve,” Sacramento County Sheriff Jim Cooper, a large girder recovered from Ground Zero serving as backdrop. “Never forget the lives lost, the families left behind and the courage that defined a generation.”
The world changed that day, Sept. 11, 2001. Cooper had put on his uniform and was headed to work. Julie Beavers, a chaplain with the Sacramento Area Fire Chaplaincy, was at home with her three children, then aged 2, 4 and 6. Her firefighter husband was driving to work at Sacramento Fire Department’s Station 5 when he called from the car that morning.
“He said, ’Turn on the news. The deejay keeps saying ‘Oh, my God,’ but I don’t know what’s going on,” Beavers said.
Rose Barcena of Sacramento was living in the Bay Area at the time, but the memory of that day and her love for the city of New York remain palpable.
“I’m a California native, but I feel like I can come her and pay my respects. When the clock strikes 9:11 a.m. on this day, I pray,” Barcena said.
Last year, she visited New York and Ground Zero for the first time.
“I love New York. It’s my adopted home. I had to go there, it meant a lot to me,” she said after the Thursday ceremony. “It was something I had to go see. It was so solemn, the quiet. People died on that ground.”
As dozens gathered Thursday to remember, speakers also called on the assembled to remember Americans’ sense of unity and shared purpose amid the national tragedy and seek that spirit again in today’s divided moment.
“Remember, our nation was bruised but not broken. Everyone could find a way to stand up for our shared ideals,” said Matthew Ceccato, a U.S. Army veteran wounded in combat during the Iraqi war, now a district chief of staff for Rep. Ami Bera, D-Elk Grove.
“We were working toward the same goal: the shared ground of our nation. We remember, honor and say ‘thank you;’ but also, ask how can you do something to rededicate yourself to that.”
“Out of tragedy, Americans stood shoulder to shoulder. We were simply Americans, coming together for a common purpose,” Cooper said during his remarks.
“Americans came together that day,” Cooper said later. “When we come together, we can do anything and that message is needed more now than ever.”
This story was originally published September 11, 2025 at 2:20 PM.
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