Colorado Springs, local military bases honor memory of 9/11

  • Published
  • By Don Branum
  • Air Force Academy Public Affairs
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. --  The city of Colorado Springs partnered with service members from local military installations Sunday to honor those who lost their lives during the 9/11 terrorist attacks and to thank those who answered the call to serve their nation in the years that followed.

The ceremony capped a weekend marked by two remembrance ceremonies at the Air Force Academy -- one to dedicate the Academy's new permanent 9/11 memorial Sept. 9 and one at Falcon Stadium during halftime of the Air Force-TCU game Saturday.

The El Paso County Sheriff and Colorado Springs Police Department Combined Color Guard opened the Colorado Springs ceremony with the posting of the colors. The Air Force Academy Band's "Stellar Brass" ensemble performed the national anthem, and Colorado Springs Fire Department Chaplain Jerome Nixon offered the invocation.

Army Gen. Charles Jacoby Jr., commander of North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command, was one of four key speakers.

"We honor the first responders of 9/11 ... the passengers, crew members and innocent victims who were killed. And we remember the families, who have served as an example of strength and perseverance," Jacoby said.

How the American people felt on 9/11, how they responded that day and how they remember the events that day "form the conscience of a nation," the general said.

"Those of you old enough to remember Pearl Harbor or ... Neil Armstrong's first footsteps on the moon ... those events shape a generation," he added.

Jacoby was at the Pentagon when terrorists flew American Airlines Flight 77 into the building. He recalled his experience the day of the attack and how quickly service members jumped back into the breach to rescue or recover their comrades.

"The sky was so blue, the grass was so green ... and the blood on the shirts of the responders was so striking," he said, fighting for words. "As a lone F-16 Fighting Falcon took station above us, I wondered, 'What could he be thinking?' And as the F-16 circled overhead, I couldn't help but think, as a military historian, that this was our Pearl Harbor."

Jacoby, a Soldier of 30 years, said the United States has risen to the challenge.

"We have persevered," he said. "We have kept our values. We have been together on this larger national trek, and today we come together as one with a solemn obligation to remember. One fact will remain constant ... we shall never fail to defend our homes and our families, and we shall never forget 9/11."

Other speakers included Colorado Lt. Gov. Joe Garcia, Colorado Springs Mayor Steve Bach and former Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter.

"The (9/11 responders) made sacred the ground on which they responded," Ritter said, paraphrasing Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. "No matter what we say, we cannot adequately talk about their sacrifice, their bravery and their courage."

Two local students, Tegan Chambon of Holmes Middle School and Ashley Reed of Widefield High School, read essays about how the events of 9/11 have changed their lives. The Cheyenne Mountain High School's Shadows Chorale and Crimson Chorale performed at the ceremony, which finished with a flyover by two F-16 Fighting Falcons from the Colorado National Guard's 140th Fighter Wing.

Among those attending the Sunday event were Gen. William Shelton, commander of Air Force Space Command; Lt. Gen. Michael Basla, AFSPC vice commander; Lt. Gen. Mike Gould, the Air Force Academy superintendent; and Maj. Gen. Michael H. Michael Edwards, Colorado's adjutant general.