Bloomington marks 25th anniversary of Sept. 11 attacks with memorial ceremony at Ivy Tech

Staff report

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — September 11, 2026

First responders, veterans, military personnel and community members gathered Friday morning at Ivy Tech Community College in Bloomington to mark the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and remember the nearly 3,000 people killed that day.

The annual Bloomington Fire Department 9/11 ceremony was held at the Ivy Tech 9/11 Memorial on Daniels Way. The program included a color guard, the national anthem, remarks from Bloomington Mayor Kerry Thomson, a keynote address by Naval Weapons Station Crane Commander Luis “Homie” Martinez, a wreath placement, a 21-gun salute, taps and a traditional firefighter bell ceremony.

Martinez, who was a high school senior in El Paso, Texas, on Sept. 11, 2001, recalled being at Fort Bliss for medical examinations as part of his effort to attend the U.S. Naval Academy when he first saw television images of the World Trade Center burning.

He said that by the time he left the military installation, Fort Bliss had been locked down, gates had closed and armed soldiers and military vehicles were positioned around the base.

“Our nation had been attacked,” Martinez told those gathered at Ivy Tech. Twenty-five years later, he said, the attacks remain a defining moment for the generations who lived through them and for those who grew up afterward learning about them as history.

Martinez reminded the audience that 2,977 people were killed in the attacks at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and aboard United Airlines Flight 93. He also spoke about employees connected to Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane who were inside the Pentagon when American Airlines Flight 77 struck the building, describing personnel making their way through smoke, darkness and heat while some attempted to rescue others trapped beneath debris.

The commander also honored firefighters, police officers and emergency medical personnel who ran toward the destruction, including members of Indiana Task Force One who deployed to Ground Zero.

Martinez said the consequences of Sept. 11 extended far beyond the attacks themselves, beginning two decades of war for members of the U.S. military. He told the audience that more than 7,000 U.S. military personnel were killed during the Global War on Terror and tens of thousands more were wounded.

He challenged those attending not to allow the anniversary to become only an annual observance.

“Honoring those we lost cannot just be about pausing for a moment of silence once a year,” Martinez said, urging people to protect the freedoms and sense of unity the attackers sought to destroy and to remember the way Americans came together in the days after Sept. 11.

Thomson earlier recalled learning about the attacks while driving to Indianapolis on Sept. 11, 2001. When news broke that the Pentagon had also been struck, she feared for her father, who was working there that morning. He ultimately made it home later that evening after walking through the locked-down Washington area.

“For thousands of Americans, the news at the end of the day was worse than anything that they had imagined when they woke up that day,” Thomson said, recalling families who lost parents, children, siblings, spouses and friends.

Thomson said she also remembers the solidarity that followed the attacks and encouraged people to recover some of that spirit.

“I hope as a nation that we use today to remember the way that we came together,” she said.

Ivy Tech Bloomington Chancellor Erik Coyne, a retired U.S. Air Force colonel, said he was stationed in England when the attacks occurred. He described Sept. 11 as one of the longest days of his military career but said he also remembers the period for the way people came together and volunteered to serve.

The Bloomington memorial has been located on the Ivy Tech campus for about a decade, Coyne said. He called on those attending to remember not only the tragedy of Sept. 11, but also the “strength, courage, community and unity” displayed afterward.

The ceremony concluded with a firefighter tradition known as the last alarm. Three sets of three bell strikes were sounded in remembrance of firefighters and others who died while answering the call to duty.

“For those who selflessly gave of their life for the good of their fellow man on that fateful September day,” the ceremony’s reading said, “your task completed, your duties well done. This is your last alarm.”

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