SMU Commemorates 17th Anniversary of 9/11 Terror Attacks
The SMU Police Department and first responders from the surrounding community will commemorate the 17th anniversary of 9/11 with a solemn ceremony honoring the police officers and firefighters who lost their lives in the line of duty during the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
DALLAS (SMU) – The SMU Police Department and first responders from the surrounding community will commemorate the 17th anniversary of 9/11 with a solemn ceremony honoring the police officers and firefighters who lost their lives in the line of duty during the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
SMU Police officers, along with members of the Highland Park Department of Public Safety and University Park Police and Fire Departments, will participate in a combined honor guard and bell ceremony for the fallen. SMU Police alternate hosting the ceremony with University Park.
The ceremonies begin at 9 a.m. Tuesday, September 11, 2018, at the flagpole on SMU’s historic Main Quad, at the north end of Bishop Boulevard. The event is free and open to the public.
“We invite the community to join us in honoring the first responders of 9/11,” said SMU Police Chief Richard Shafer. “They made the ultimate sacrifice while protecting and serving our country.”
The remembrance will feature remarks from Chief Shafer, SMU President R. Gerald Turner and Colonel Matthew F. Amidon, USMCR, director of the Military Service Initiative at the George W. Bush Institute.
To symbolize the first responders’ devotion to duty, the bell ceremony includes a special signal of three rings, three times each, representing the end of duty and a return to quarters. The signals ring out that “those who have selflessly given their lives for the good of their fellow man, their tasks completed, their duties well done … are going home.”
Also on Tuesday, SMU Young Americans for Freedom will host a memorial service for the victims of the September 11 terror attacks from 5:30 to 6 p.m. in front of Dallas Hall. Speakers include Chief Shafer and SMU Debate and Speech director Ben Voth.
Young Americans for Freedom also will commemorate the anniversary through its annual 9/11 Project, which consists of 2,977 American flags displayed on the Dallas Hall lawn from dawn until dusk.
The U.S. Military Veterans of SMU (SMU Milvets) are participating in the annual Dallas 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb at 8 a.m. Saturday, September 8, at Reunion Tower and in the annual 9/11 Heroes Run 5K on Sunday, September 9 in the Turtle Creek area.
Related Links
• Journal entries by the SMU community from September 11, 2001
• Video featuring SMU alumna Christina Rancke ’14, whose father died on 9/11