Eastern Air Defense Sector holds 9/11 Ceremony on Friday, Sept. 11

ROME NEW YORK (09/09/2026) (readMedia)-- The Eastern Air Defense Sector will mark the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks with a ceremony on Friday, Sept. 11, at Eastern Air Defense Sector headquarters in Rome.

Members of the press are invited to attend the ceremony.

WHO: Whitesboro Police Chief David Olney, Major General Gary Charlton II, the commander of the New York Air National Guard; Brig. Gen. Paul Bishop, a former commander of the Eastern Air Defense Sector, and the men and women of the command.

WHAT: 9/11 Remembrance Ceremony marking the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attacks. The Airmen of what was then the Northeast Air Defense Sector were the first members of the United States military to be informed for the hijackings on that morning 25 years ago and played a critical role that day.

WHEN: Friday, Sept. 11, 10:45 am.

WHERE: Eastern Air Defense Sector , 366 Otis Street, Rome

Press outlets wishing to cover this event must send reporter/photographer names to Barbara Olney by e-mail at barbara.olney.2@us.af.mil or by phone at 315-335-6536(office) or 315-371-6660 (cell) no later than 5 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 10.

BACKGROUND:

Twenty-five years ago this Sept. 11, what was then known as the Northeast Air Defense Sector played a critical role.

New York Air National Guard Tech. Sgt. Jeremy Powell was the first member of the U.S. military to realize Sept. 11, 2001, was not going to be an ordinary fall day.

Powell, who eventually retired as a major, was a full-time Air Guardsman and was then a senior radar technician.

The command was in the middle of a training exercise when Powell's phone rang.

At 8:37 a.m. Powell took a call from a Federal Aviation Administration controller in Boston informing him an airliner may have been hijacked and that the FAA needed a fighter jet to get a visual on the plane.

NEADs commanders called the 102nd Fighter Wing of the Massachusetts Air National Guard and directed them to get two F-15s airborne.

At 8:46 a.m., American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center.

The personnel at EADS tracked the four hijacked planes and watched the skies for additional attacks that day.

By the end of Sept. 11, 2001, 4,265 members of the New York Army and Air National Guard were on state active duty to respond to the attacks. This was in addition to 2,000 Active-Duty Guard Soldiers and Airmen who were at work that day.

The resulting Global War on Terror saw New York Army National Guard Soldiers deploy 14,512 time to Iraq, Afghanistan and the Middle East. Meanwhile New York Air National Guard Airmen deployed 11,033 times in support of the mission.

NOTE: The original version of this media adivsory described Brig. Gen. Paul Bishop as retired. This is not accurate. The Division of Military and Naval Affairs regrets the error.