Below are the remarks Rep. Roy delivered at Franklin’s commemoration of the 25th anniversary of 9/11:

Twenty-five years ago today, the world shifted on its axis. For those of us who lived through that crystal-blue September morning, the memory remains etched in our bones. We remember precisely where we stood—in an office, a classroom, a kitchen, or on the road—when ordinary life abruptly gave way to unthinkable tragedy.

We watched the towers fall. We felt the strike against the Pentagon. And in an open field in Shanksville, we witnessed ordinary citizens aboard United Flight 93 make the extraordinary decision to charge into harm’s way so that countless others might live.

A quarter of a century has passed. Today, an entire generation of Americans—our young teachers, our soldiers, our newly sworn police officers and firefighters—has grown up never having known a pre-9/11 world.

That is why gathering here today is not just a gesture of reflection; it is a sacred duty.

Memory is not automatic. It must be cultivated. It is an act of deep love, an act of civic defiance, and a generational promise.

When we say the words “Never Forget,” we cannot let them become an empty refrain. We are keeping faith with the 2,983 innocent souls stolen from us. We are wrapping our arms around the families across Massachusetts and across this nation who have spent twenty-five years marking milestones—every milestone—with an empty chair at the table.

And today, we stand in profound reverence for our first responders. We remember the firefighters, police officers, EMTs, and transit workers who did not hesitate, who ran into the burning towers and toward the wreckage while the world fled.

Across the Commonwealth, that same courage is stitched into the daily fabric of our towns. The women and men who wear the uniform in our communities place their lives squarely between devastation and our families every single day.

Yet we also know that the sacrifice of 9/11 did not end when the sirens faded. For twenty-five years, rescue and recovery workers, along with their families, have borne the invisible aftermath: late-onset cancers, chronic illnesses, and psychological scars carried in quiet stoicism.

Honoring them cannot begin and end with applause on an anniversary. Our gratitude is measured by our actions. It is a permanent moral covenant—ensuring our first responders and their loved ones have the mental health care, the comprehensive medical coverage, and the unwavering local backing they so rightfully earned.

A few years ago, standing at the 9/11 Memorial in New York, I looked up at the beacon shining 1,776 feet in the sky atop the Freedom Tower. That light carries a special resonance for all of us right here at home. That beacon was engineered and constructed right here in Franklin, on Saxon Street—built to be the brightest light in the Western Hemisphere.

Scripture reminds us in Matthew 5:16: “Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good works.”

That beacon was built to pierce the darkness. It calls us together. In the darkest days of 2001, our country was defined not by terror, but by an extraordinary surge of grace: citizens waiting hours in line to give blood, volunteers driving across state lines to lift debris, neighbors holding hands, and entire communities pulling together as one.

Twenty-five years later, in a world that often feels fractured, let us summon that grace once again. Let us preserve the sacred memory of those we lost. Let us stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our first responders and their families.

And right here in our community, let us be the beacon for one another—grounded in compassion, steadfast in purpose, and bound together as one Commonwealth and one people. Thank you.