First responders commemorate Sept. 11

About three dozen firefighters and police officers saluted a flag swiftly raised then lowered steadily to half-staff. Bagpipers, a trumpeter and dignitaries stood by U.S., Indiana and Bloomington flags.

Outside Bloomington City Hall in Showers Plaza, people commented how Wednesday’s humid, 90-degree heat reminded them of the weather on Sept. 11, 2001. They shared their stories, where they were when they heard about the terrorist attacks and how much had changed in the last 12 years.

“Most of us remember where we were that morning,” said Tom Hanify, president of the Professional Firefighters Union of Indiana. “We watched on TV while the world changed.”

Yet among the more than 50 people who gathered at the city’s annual ceremony to mark the anniversary of Sept. 11, almost all were emergency personnel or elected officials. Few other community members or traditional college-aged people were there.

“That’s a real problem for us,” said Bob Loviscek, president of the Bloomington Metropolitan Professional Firefighters Local 586. “Crowds have gotten smaller, but it’s still important.”

Twelve years after the attacks, Bloomington’s newest residents — the IU freshmen class — were just 6 years old on Sept. 11, Hanify said.

They have limited memory of what happened. With each new group of freshmen on campus, fewer people will have any memory of Sept. 11 at all. In six years, most of the freshmen wouldn’t have been alive the day of the attacks.

“Our ability to do these ceremonies and pass on knowledge is the best we can do,” Loviscek said.

Loviscek said Sept. 11 plays a role similar to Pearl Harbor in our history. As it becomes part of the increasingly distant past, the day’s significance remains strongest in those most intimately involved and those who continue to do the same work in communities like Bloomington.

“The further away from Sept. 11 we get, the easier it is for some of us to forget,” Hanify said. “It’s important that we keep our promise to never forget.”

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Sirens broke through the mostly quiet ceremony as emergency vehicles hurried away in response to a call.

“There was almost a poetic nature to the fact that just as we’re starting this ceremony, that 911 call comes in and the firefighters head off to who knows what,” Bloomington Mayor Mark Kruzan said. “That is just what you all as police, firefighters, rescue workers do on a day-to-day basis, and the rest of us are just in awe of that.”

Kruzan and other dignitaries spoke about the uncertainties of a post-Sept. 11 world, underscored by President Obama’s address Tuesday night about military action in Syria.

“It was such a shock to all of us what happened that day,” said Dick Dunbar, commander of American Legion Post 18 in Bloomington. “We thought it couldn’t happen in our country, but it did, and it could happen again. The War on Terror continues today.”

Although the ceremony took place near the Bloomington Police and Fire Memorial in Showers Plaza, speakers honored civilian victims of the attacks in addition to the emergency personnel who responded to the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and the field in Stonycreek Township, Pa.

They laid a wreath by the memorial, raised a U.S. flag to half-staff and performed a three-volley salute — seven officers shot rifles three times each in unison.

A trumpeter played “Taps.” One bagpiper played “Amazing Grace,” and two others joined in for a second chorus.

“We continue to mourn the more than 3,000 souls that were lost that fateful day,” Kruzan said. “But it’s important to remember the thousands of lives that were saved.”

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On Sept. 12, 2005, the Indiana Daily Student ran a front-page story saying that just four years after Sept. 11, “commemoration of the attacks on New York and Washington on Sept. 11, 2001, appears to have taken a backseat.”

As time passes, even an event as momentous as Sept. 11 slips into the background, becoming history.

But for Bloomington firefighters who organize the event each year with the city, Bloomington Police Department, IU Police Department and various speakers, the event still serves a purpose in attempting to educate the public and remind Bloomington residents of the tragic attacks 12 years ago.

“We’ve kept it alive and will continue to keep it alive,” Loviscek said. “If firefighters are the only ones who attend, so what? We’ll still be here.”

Follow reporter Michael Auslen on Twitter @MichaelAuslen.