First responders, veterans, local officials and community members gathered at Ivy Tech Bloomington on Friday to mark 25 years since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The annual memorial ceremony included the national anthem, remarks from Bloomington Mayor Kerry Thomson, a keynote address from Naval Weapons Station Crane Commanding Officer Luis “Homie” Martinez, and a firefighter bell ceremony.
Thomson reflected on her own experience on Sept. 11, including concern for her father, who was working at the Pentagon that morning.
She said the anniversary is also an opportunity to remember how Americans responded to the attacks.
“I hope, as a nation, that we use today to remember the way that we came together, the way humans were simply that; we were human on that day,” Thomson said.
Ivy Tech Bloomington has hosted the community's 9/11 memorial for a decade. The school is home to the community's 9/11 memorial.
Chancellor Erik Coyne, a retired Air Force colonel, said the anniversary is a chance to remember both the tragedy and the response that followed.
“I saw people come together, people showed up for their neighbors and for strangers they had never met,” Coyne said. “People raised their hands to serve in the military and as first responders and in hospitals and wherever they were needed.”
Coyne said remembering that response gives him hope for what Americans can accomplish when they work together.
Martinez, who was a high school senior in El Paso, Texas, when the attacks happened, said seeing the military installation around him go into lockdown changed his plans to attend the Naval Academy.
“I had wanted to serve in our nation's armed forces before the morning started,” Martinez said. “That evening, as more information came across the television and the news about the day's events, there was no question. I was definitely serving.”
Martinez's remarks also focused on the first responders and military personnel who responded to the attacks and the years of conflict that followed.
He cited the 2,977 people killed on Sept. 11, as well as thousands of military personnel and others who died in the years after the attacks.
He challenged those attending the ceremony to remember not only the losses but the sense of unity that followed.
The ceremony concluded with a firefighter bell ceremony, a tradition used to honor fallen firefighters and signify the end of their service.
Bloomington Fire Chief Roger Kerr and firefighter Robert Morgan took part in the ceremony.
