ObservanceSaturday, September 11, 2027
Patriot Day — National Day of Service & Remembrance
- Date
- Recurs
- Every year on September 11
- Category
- Celebration
Patriot Day falls on September 11 and honors the 2,977 people killed in the terrorist attacks of 2001. Congress designated it by joint resolution in December of that year, which means the first Patriot Day was September 11, 2002. It is a day of remembrance and, since 2009, of service; it is not a holiday, and nothing closes.
History
The designation came quickly. House Joint Resolution 71 passed the House on October 25, 2001 and the Senate on November 30, and was approved on December 18 as Public Law 107-89. Its operative language, now at 36 U.S.C. 144, is four words: "September 11 is Patriot Day." The rest of the statute asks the president to issue a proclamation each year calling on governments and the public to observe the day, on federal agencies to fly the flag at half-staff, and on Americans to observe a moment of silence. The statute names no time for that silence.
An earlier proclamation is sometimes mistaken for the first Patriot Day. Proclamation 7462, signed September 13, 2001, designated Friday, September 14 as a National Day of Prayer and Remembrance, with "noontime memorial services, the ringing of bells at that hour, and evening candlelight remembrance vigils." That was a single day, not an annual observance.
The service half of the day arrived eight years later, and the law behind it is usually described wrongly. The Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, Public Law 111-13 of April 21, 2009, does not amend the Patriot Day statute and does not contain the word "Patriot" anywhere. What it did was add a provision to the national service laws authorizing the federal service agency, now AmeriCorps, to organize activities and make grants for "the September 11th National Day of Service and Remembrance" — an observance the 2009 proclamation credited to the victims' families. So "Patriot Day and National Day of Service and Remembrance" is the title of a presidential proclamation, not the day's name in statute — and administrations have used that longer title inconsistently.
The 8:46 a.m. Eastern moment of silence also comes from the proclamations rather than the law; it marks the time American Airlines Flight 11 struck the North Tower. The 2002 proclamation asked for silence "beginning at 8:46 a.m. eastern daylight time, or another appropriate commemorative time"; the 2009 one dropped the alternative, and recent proclamations have directed half-staff without naming a time at all.
Timeline
- 2001 — Public Law 107-89, approved December 18, designates September 11 as Patriot Day; it is codified at 36 U.S.C. 144.
- 2002 — The first Patriot Day is observed on September 11 under Proclamation 7590.
- 2008 — The Pentagon Memorial, a bench for each of the 184 people killed there, is dedicated on September 11.
- 2009 — The Serve America Act authorizes federal support for a September 11 National Day of Service and Remembrance.
- 2011 — The 9/11 Memorial is dedicated on the tenth anniversary and opens to the public the next day.
How to observe
The 9/11 Memorial maintains a searchable directory of every name inscribed on the bronze parapets, which locates a person by panel. Reading one entry, rather than a total, is the closest thing to the point of the day.
For the service half, AmeriCorps runs a volunteer search for projects tied to September 11, and the nonprofit 9/11 Day organizes meal-packing events that produced more than 6.5 million meals across eighteen cities in 2023. If you want primary material, the Library of Congress's September 11, 2001 Documentary Project holds oral histories recorded in the weeks after the attacks, with roughly 200 interviews online. The Flight 93 National Memorial near Shanksville and the Pentagon Memorial, with its 184 benches, are both open to visitors.
Frequently asked questions
Is Patriot Day a federal holiday?
No. The eleven legal public holidays are listed in 5 U.S.C. 6103, and Patriot Day is not among them. It sits in Title 36, the patriotic observances title, so no federal leave attaches.
How many people were killed?
The 9/11 Memorial counts 2,977 people killed at the three attack sites on September 11, 2001: 2,753 in New York, 184 at the Pentagon, and 40 aboard Flight 93. That figure counts victims and excludes the nineteen hijackers. The memorial bears 2,983 names, because it also honors the six people killed in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Among the 2,977 were 441 first responders from more than thirty agencies, including 343 New York City firefighters, 37 Port Authority police officers and 23 New York City police officers.
How many have died since of 9/11-related illness?
There is no official count. The federal World Trade Center Health Program states plainly that it does not track cause of death for its members, so its figures cannot answer the question. The Justice Department's Victim Compensation Fund reported 8,996 claims filed on behalf of people who had died as of December 31, 2025, but a claim is not a certified cause of death.
Is Patriot Day the same as Patriots' Day?
No. Patriots' Day is a state holiday in Massachusetts and Maine observed on the third Monday in April, commemorating the battles of Lexington and Concord in 1775.
What time is the moment of silence?
Proclamations have commonly set it at 8:46 a.m. Eastern, the moment of the first impact, though the statute itself names no time and recent proclamations have directed only that flags fly at half-staff.
When is Patriot Day — National Day of Service & Remembrance?
| Year | Date | Day |
|---|---|---|
| 2027 | September 11 | Saturday |
| 2028 | September 11 | Monday |
| 2029 | September 11 | Tuesday |
| 2030 | September 11 | Wednesday |
| 2031 | September 11 | Thursday |
Sources
- Public Law 107-89 (H.J. Res. 71), approved December 18, 2001, 115 Stat. 876 — https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PLAW-107publ89/pdf/PLAW-107publ89.pdf → the designation of September 11 as Patriot Day; the requests for an annual proclamation, half-staff display and a moment of silence; House passage October 25, 2001 and Senate passage November 30, 2001.
- 36 U.S.C. 144, Patriot Day — https://www.govinfo.gov/link/uscode/36/144?link-type=pdf → "September 11 is Patriot Day"; the statutory credit showing Public Law 107-89 as the only source act, with no later amendment.
- Public Law 111-13, Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, April 21, 2009 — https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PLAW-111publ13/pdf/PLAW-111publ13.pdf → section 1802(c), which authorizes the federal service agency to organize activities and make grants for "the September 11th National Day of Service and Remembrance"; the act makes no reference to Patriot Day and does not amend 36 U.S.C. 144.
- 42 U.S.C. 12653, National and Community Service Act — https://www.govinfo.gov/link/uscode/42/12653?link-type=pdf → subsection (k) as codified, and its 2009 credit to Public Law 111-13.
- Proclamation 7462, September 13, 2001 — https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2001-09-14/pdf/01-23257.pdf → the designation of Friday, September 14, 2001 as a National Day of Prayer and Remembrance, with noontime services, the ringing of bells and candlelight vigils.
- Proclamation 7590, September 4, 2002 — https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2002-09-09/pdf/02-23007.pdf → the first observance of Patriot Day; the request for a moment of silence "beginning at 8:46 a.m. eastern daylight time, or another appropriate commemorative time."
- Proclamation 8413, September 10, 2009 — https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2009-09-14/pdf/E9-22262.pdf → the combined proclamation title; the 8:46 a.m. request without the alternative time; the statement that the National Day of Service and Remembrance was "originated by the family members of those who lost loved ones on 9/11"; the proclamation's own distinction between what Public Law 107-89 designated and what Public Law 111-13 requested.
- Proclamation 11066, September 9, 2026 — https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2026-09-15/pdf/2026-18959.pdf → a recent proclamation directing half-staff without naming a time for silence; 8:46 a.m. as the time American Airlines Flight 11 struck the North Tower.
- 9/11 Memorial and Museum, Institutional Backgrounder, September 2026 — https://www.911memorial.org/sites/default/files/inline-files/Institutional%20Backgrounder%20Sept%202026.pdf → 2,977 people killed at the three attack sites; 2,753 in New York, 184 at the Pentagon, 40 aboard Flight 93; 2,983 names on the memorial, including the six killed in the 1993 bombing; 441 first responders from over thirty agencies, of whom 343 were FDNY firefighters, 37 Port Authority police officers and 23 New York City police officers; the memorial's dedication on the tenth anniversary and its public opening the following day.
- National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States, The 9/11 Commission Report, chapter 9 — https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-911REPORT/pdf/GPO-911REPORT-15.pdf → the 9:37 a.m. strike on the Pentagon and the 64-aboard and 125-inside figures, which together establish that the 184 and 2,977 counts exclude the nineteen hijackers; the FDNY, Port Authority and NYPD fatality figures.
- 5 U.S.C. 6103, Holidays — https://www.govinfo.gov/link/uscode/5/6103?link-type=pdf → the eleven legal public holidays, and Patriot Day's absence from the list.
- CDC World Trade Center Health Program, External Quarterly Program Summary, data through June 30, 2026 — https://www.cdc.gov/wtc/pdfs/statistics/20260630_External_QuarterlyProgramSummary.pdf → that the program "does not track cause of death for deceased members," so its figures cannot establish a count of deaths from 9/11-related illness.
- U.S. Department of Justice, September 11th Victim Compensation Fund 2025 Annual Report — https://www.vcf.gov/sites/vcf/files/media/document/2026-02/2025-Annual%20Report-508-V3a%20-%20508%20-%201.pdf → 8,996 claims filed on behalf of people who had died, as of December 31, 2025, out of 105,975 claims in total.
- Massachusetts General Laws, ch. 4, sec. 7, clause 18 — https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleI/Chapter4/Section7 → the third Monday in April as a Massachusetts legal holiday.
- Maine Revised Statutes, 4 M.R.S. sec. 1051 — https://legislature.maine.gov/statutes/4/title4sec1051-1.html → "Patriot's Day, the 3rd Monday in April."
- 9/11 Memorial and Museum, names directory — https://names.911memorial.org/ → the searchable directory locating each inscribed name by panel.
- AmeriCorps, September 11 Day of Service and Remembrance — https://www.americorps.gov/serve/volunteer/911-day → the AmeriCorps volunteer search for September 11 service projects.
- AmeriCorps, America Unites on 9/11 Day of Service, September 15, 2023 — https://www.americorps.gov/blogs/2023-09-15/america-unites-911-day-service and the accompanying release https://www.americorps.gov/newsroom/press-release/volunteers-packed-65-million-meals-september-11 → more than 6.5 million meals packed across eighteen cities in 2023, in partnership with the 9/11 Day organization.
- Library of Congress, September 11, 2001 Documentary Project — https://www.loc.gov/collections/september-11th-2001-documentary-project/ → the oral-history collection and the roughly 200 audio and video interviews presented online.
- National Park Service, Flight 93 National Memorial — https://www.nps.gov/flni/index.htm → the memorial near Shanksville and the forty passengers and crew aboard Flight 93.
- U.S. Department of Defense, Pentagon Memorial — https://www.defense.gov/Experience/Pentagon-Memorial/ and U.S. Army, What to know before you visit the National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial — https://www.army.mil/article/226961/what_to_know_before_you_visit_the_national_911_pentagon_memorial → the 184 benches, one for each person killed at the Pentagon, and the memorial's dedication on September 11, 2008.
Rejected as sources: nationaltoday, nationaldaycalendar, checkiday, timeanddate and any content-farm or AI-generated listicle. Three widely circulated figures are deliberately omitted for want of an acceptable source: a cumulative count of deaths from 9/11-related illness, a cumulative count of FDNY members lost to such illness, and any national participation total for the day of service.
Add to your calendarA calendar file for Apple Calendar, Google Calendar or Outlook. The event repeats every year. You can also subscribe to this observance or to the whole calendar.
← See everything September 11 celebrates