Alzheimer’s Patient Forgets 9/11, Disappoints Entire Nation
Doris Pelletier, 84, was asked at a Friday remembrance where she was when she heard. She asked what she was supposed to have heard. The country says it expected more.
Editor's Note
Reality Daily has declined to publish the video. Mrs. Pelletier’s daughter agreed to this story on one condition: that it be read to her mother before it ran. It has been, twice. She enjoyed it both times. — P. A. Doggett
ALTOONA, Pa. — An 84-year-old woman with moderate-stage Alzheimer’s disease forgot the September 11 attacks during a twenty-fifth-anniversary remembrance at her memory care facility Friday, a lapse that has left the United States, by every available measure, deeply let down.
Doris Pelletier, a resident of Wing C at Juniata Hollow Memory Care, about forty miles from Shanksville, was the fourth resident called on during the facility’s 10 a.m. “Where Were You” sharing circle. Three residents before her had shared. One had been at a bank. One had been in his truck. One had described, in detail, a Tuesday in 1963, which staff allowed.
When the microphone reached Pelletier, activities director Kim Stroud asked her where she had been when she heard.
“When I heard what, dear?” Pelletier said.
Stroud then summarized the events of September 11, 2001. According to the facility’s activity record, obtained by Reality Daily, Pelletier gasped, covered her mouth, and asked whether everyone was all right. Forty seconds later she asked what the moment of silence was for. She was told again. She was, staff said, exactly as horrified as the first time.
“Honestly that was the part that got people,” Stroud said. “If she’d just forgotten it once, fine. But she kept being devastated, fresh, like it was news. It felt like she wasn’t taking it seriously.”
A volunteer filmed the exchange on his phone. By Saturday morning the clip had been viewed 41 million times under the caption “She FORGOT,” and #DorisForgot was the top trending topic in forty-six states. The remaining four were reported as “also disappointed, just busy.”
The reaction from public officials was swift.
“Twenty-five years ago, this country made a promise,” said Rep. Curt Maddox (R-Pa.) from the floor of a VFW hall in Duncansville. “Never forget. Most of us kept that promise. Mrs. Pelletier, on Friday, did not. I’m not here to judge her. I’m here to say that I remembered.”
A national survey released Saturday by Hartwell Research found that 71 percent of Americans were “disappointed” in Pelletier, 18 percent were “very disappointed,” and 9 percent said they were “not surprised, given everything.” A further 2 percent could not say what happened on September 11 and were thanked for their time.
Dr. Anjali Rao, a neurologist who has treated Pelletier since 2021, said she had not been disappointed, and had since received more than nine hundred emails about that.
“Alzheimer’s disease destroys memory,” Rao said. “That is not one of its features. That is the feature. People keep asking whether she could be made to never forget, and I keep explaining that ‘never forget’ was a bumper sticker, not a treatment plan.”
Rao noted that since Friday Pelletier had been told about the attacks eleven times, had wept eleven times, and had eleven times said a prayer for the families. “By my count she has observed the anniversary eleven times this weekend,” Rao said. “The man who posted the video observed it once, at 8:46, and then went to a Buffalo Wild Wings.”
The commercial sector has also weighed in. Patriot Pillow-Top Mattress Barn, which ran a “Never Forget” weekend sale at 25 percent off, posted a statement calling Pelletier’s lapse “a slap in the face to every Pennsylvanian who came in and honored the fallen,” and extended the sale through Monday.
An online petition titled “Doris Must Remember” had collected 212,406 signatures by Sunday afternoon. A counter-petition, “Let Doris Forget,” had 14, all from residents of Wing C, none of whom recall signing it and all of whom, when asked, said they stood by it.
Juniata Hollow administrator Neil Farraday said the facility took the matter seriously and had introduced corrective measures, including a laminated card zip-tied to Pelletier’s walker that reads “IT WAS A TUESDAY.” A planned remedial screening of news footage was cancelled after nursing staff pointed out that Pelletier would be watching it live, for the first time, every time.
Pelletier’s daughter, Carol Anne Pelletier-Rusk, 59, of Hollidaysburg, said she understood the country’s feelings.
“My mother forgot my father died,” she said. “She forgot my name in March. She forgot her own wedding, and she was the one who planned it. I have been disappointed for four years. I would love for the nation to take a number.”
Asked whether her mother was aware of the controversy, Pelletier-Rusk said she had explained it to her Saturday.
“She said, ‘Well, that’s just awful, that poor woman,’” Pelletier-Rusk said. “Then she asked me who I was.”
At press time, Pelletier had asked a nurse what all the little flags in the dining room were for, been told, put a hand over her heart, and promised she would never forget it as long as she lived. She has now promised that nine times, which the nurse said is nine more times than most people have said it this year out loud.
Corrections & Clarifications
Update, 13:50 — An earlier version of this story said Mrs. Pelletier had been told about the attacks eleven times. As of this update, it is fourteen. She took it very hard at 13:05.
Sources & Documentation
- Juniata Hollow Memory Care, Resident Activity Record AR-3, Wing C, 11 September 2026, 1 p. Obtained by Reality Daily; health details limited to those already in circulation.
- Hartwell Research, national online and telephone survey, fielded 11–12 September 2026, n = 1,204, margin of error ±3 points.
- Interview, Dr. Anjali Rao, neurologist, 12 September, 22 min. On the record.
- Interview, Carol Anne Pelletier-Rusk, 12 September, Hollidaysburg, 40 min. On the record.
- Interview, Doris Pelletier, 12 September, Juniata Hollow, 35 min. On the record. Began six times.
- Patriot Pillow-Top Mattress Barn, public Facebook post, 12 September, 08:14. Sale since extended.
Reader Response — 3,390 comments
My mother had this. She forgot 9/11, the moon landing and me, in that order. Only one of those made the news.
I have had a NEVER FORGET decal on my truck for twenty-two years and I could not tell you right now which plane was the Pentagon one. Doris is being made an example of and I am frankly relieved it is not me.
Not saying she should be punished. Just saying I remembered.
Memory care nurse, nineteen years. The residents who forget are the most sincere people in this country about everything. Every flag is the first flag. Every anthem makes them cry. You people could learn something.
Where was I when I heard? Work. Where was I when I heard about Doris? Also work. America.
Went to the mattress place. They would not give me the Never Forget price because I could not remember the promo code. Nobody made a petition for me.