Twenty-five years ago this morning, 2,977 Americans went to work or boarded a plane—and never came home.

We remember the police officers, firefighters, and EMTs who ran up the stairs while everyone else was coming down. We remember the passengers on Flight 93, who figured out what was happening and decided in a matter of minutes that their plane wasn't going to reach Washington. And we remember everyone who stepped up after the attacks to serve our country—in Afghanistan and Iraq, and here at home, to the illnesses that came from Ground Zero. The count from that day didn't stop that day.

I spent more than 12 years in the Army taking apart bombs built by the same kind of men who planned that morning, and the last one I found in Afghanistan took both my legs. I'd do it again tomorrow. That’s my answer to what they tried to do to us: the United States of America will forever be the greatest nation in the history of the world and we will never stop standing against evil. 

Twenty-five years on, we remember each of our fallen, and we remember that freedom is not free. 

We will never forget.