Twenty-four years after the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001, America continues to reflect on the terror attacks and mourn the loss of nearly 3,000 people, as the enduring pain remains. 

A new generation is learning about that foundational day in American history through the voices of those who lost loved ones, including the servicemen and women who ran into the collapsing Twin Towers, and the shared stories at commemorations held across the U.S., especially in New York City.

“We have been going to the firehouse every 9/11 since that day,” Patrick Dowdell, an Army veteran and son of Lt. Kevin Dowdell, FDNY fireman who lost his life 24 years ago, told Fox News Digital. 

Patrick Dowdell and his brother, James Dowdell, have honored their father’s memory, who passed away on September 11, 2001, by serving in the US Army and working as a firefighter with the FDNY. (Patrick Dowdell)

“In the city, my brother serves with other firemen whose fathers were also killed on 9/11,” Dowdell said.

Today, current and former FDNY and their family members are invited to Rescue 4 to remember the firemen lost that day. 

Dowdell, as an experienced bagpiper, plays a tune for each event every year: At 8:46 a.m. when the first plane hit the North Tower, at 9:03 a.m. when the second plane hit the South Tower, at 9:37 a.m. when the third plane crashed into the Pentagon, at 9:59 a.m. when the South Tower collapsed, at 10:03 a.m. when Flight 93 crashed in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and at 10:28 a.m. when the North Tower collapsed.

The Dowdell family gathers at home every year for family dinner where they recite one thing they are thankful for and one memory they think their husband and father, Lt. Dowdell, would have enjoyed from the last year. 

“In those moments, we always remember him and we talk about him all the time,” Dowdell said. “My kids know who grandpa Kevin is and how he passed away.”