How the 9/11 Generation Is Passing Down Their Shared History
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How did the 9/11 attacks shape the childhood of Matthew John Bocchi?
Hi everybody, and welcome to Here's the Scoop from NBC News. I'm Yazm Basugin.
So you just heard those bagpipes marking um the beginning of the reading of the names today on September eleventh. It has been twenty-five years since nearly three thousand people died in the attacks in Washington DC in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and right here in New York City. That mien. That literally an entire generation has grown up under the shadow of nine-eleven. And some of the people who were children at the time, who lost parents on that day, or who were in communities affected in the aftermath, are now actually parents themselves. So today. We want to share their stories. How do they reflect on this seismic event in their childhoods? How has becoming parents changed how they think about that experience?
And what do they think the next generation should know about what happened? That is what we're going to talk about today. So, as they do every year, commemorations at Ground Zero began at 8:40 this morning. With a moment of silence were the victims of the North Tower of the World Trade Center. The first hit by American Airlines Flight Eleven. Among those remembered was John Bocci.
John Paul Bocci.
John was an employee at Canner Fitzgerald who was working at his office on the one hundred and fifth floor when that first plane struck. His son, Matthew John Bocci, was just nine years old at the time. Losing his father. in nine eleven changed the trajectory of Matt's life. Through childhood and young adulthood, he struggled with grief, with addiction, with mental health issues, which he describes in his memoir Sway, the first ever written by a child of a nine eleven victim. I spoke with Matthew earlier. Hey Matt.
Good to see you.
Great to have you. It's been twenty five years uh since you lost your dad. What has your ritual been like in commemorating nine eleven up until now?
Uh well it's interesting because there was a transformative change. Um There was a block of years where the ritual was surrounding myself with as much uh alcohol and drugs that I could possibly consume and then numbing myself the throughout the entire day and watching the footage. And when I finally got sober, I and really when my book came out, um this paradigm shift happened where I started to, and my family included, we started to sort more so celebrate my father. And it wasn't as much grieving his death as celebrating his life. Life.
How do you celebrate your dad?
So we normally we have a small memorial that we go to in town and then we spend the day at home with the family. In New Jersey. In New Jersey. Your
family is from New Jersey. My
family's from New Jersey. So
you have a memorial that you go to?
Go to a memorial and then uh we spend the day at home together.
Talk about 'em, you you share memories of them, you share pictures.
Yeah. Pictures, of course, more so stories. Talk about happier things and My brothers and I will drive his cars and the weather's supposed to be beautiful, so it's just
You still have his cars?
We still have his cars.
Wow. What kind of car?
Porsche nine eleven Carrera. Excuse me. And an Alvaromeo spider.
Excuse me, John Bocce. I know you were little, but what was what was your dad like? What do you remember most about him?
I remember how charismatic he was. He had this mentality of if it's either you liked him or you didn't. And if you didn't, then that's okay 'cause he had tons of friends and tons of family who loved him.
He didn't care.
He didn't care. Um but he was a jokester and a prankster and that's what I hold on to.
So I I keep mentioning the fact that you're only nine years old, um, because I think it's important like the way in which you write about that diet. in your book is like in detail. What sticks out to you about that day?
It's funny you mentioned about remembering it because I hardly remember anything prior to it. I had the one memory of going to his office right before uh during Christmas of two thousand one or two thousand, excuse me.
You visited uh his office. I went to my father's office at
Tanner.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
How did the 9/11 attacks shape the childhood of Matthew John Bocchi?
0:04–5:04
2
What rituals and celebrations does Matt use to honor his father’s memory?
5:04–9:35
3
How did Matt’s search for his father’s final moments affect his mental‑health journey?
9:35–14:06
4
What was Aymann Ismail’s experience as a Muslim teen after 9/11 and how did his community respond?
14:06–20:07
5
How did the post‑9/11 FBI raid and increased scrutiny impact Muslim families?
20:07–26:11
6
Why does Megan Jones believe teaching “hard history” like 9/11 is essential for today’s students?
26:11–31:34
7
What teaching strategies does the 9/11 Museum use to connect artifacts with students’ lives?
31:34–38:44
8
What final messages do the guests share about remembering 9/11 and moving forward?
38:44–45:16
Speakers
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