Under clear skies and warm late afternoon sun, a large crowd gathered along the Naperville Riverwalk Friday evening for the 25th anniversary observance of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks — filling both sides of the DuPage River at the Cmdr. Dan Shanower Memorial.
A Solemn Milestone
Twenty-five years after the attacks that claimed nearly 3,000 lives, including Naperville native and Navy Cmdr. Dan Shanower, the community once again returned to the memorial bearing his name to reflect, remember, and give thanks to those who serve. The City partnered with Naperville Responds for Veterans to host the annual remembrance, and Friday’s turnout reflected just how deeply the observance still resonates a quarter-century later.
Music, Ceremony and Tradition
The Naperville Municipal Band opened the evening at 4:45PM, setting a reflective tone ahead of the 5PM program. As in years past, the ceremony moved through its familiar and moving traditions — the presentation of colors, the National Anthem, the lowering of the flag to half-staff, and the Naperville Fire Department’s bell ceremony, a tribute to fallen first responders that never fails to still a crowd.
Retired Marine Major Charles Lynn Lowder, a decorated Vietnam Veteran and co-founder of the Veteran Business Project, served as this year’s keynote speaker.
Lowder’s remarks centered on the importance of American freedom, urging the crowd not to take it for granted, and that we have have more in common with one another than what divides us — a message that landed with particular weight on a 25th anniversary marked by such a large turnout.
The ceremony closed with the wreath-laying by the Shanower family, the Firefighter Highland Guard’s rendition of “Amazing Grace,” and a rifle volley from American Legion Post 43 and VFW Post 3873.
Looking Back, and Forward
Twenty-five years on, Friday’s ceremony was a reminder that remembrance in Naperville hasn’t faded with time. The beams of light that shone behind the Municipal Center the night before, the names etched into the Wall of Faces, and the crowds who return each year all speak to a community still committed to honoring what was lost — and to the freedom that continues to be, as the memorial’s theme reminds us, not free.
