Nine years ago today, the Texas A&M Bonfire collapsed, killing 12 students and injuring more than two dozen others. I can’t believe so many years have passed.
I was a freshman living on-campus November 18, 1999 at 2:42 am. It was push week, and students were working round the clock leading up to the night before the t.u. game when Bonfire would burn. I was actually supposed to be out there working on the stack the night it fell. I remember planning to go, but then something else came up. It’s strange, but I can’t remember exactly what I did that night instead…I have an excellent memory (which is both a blessing and a curse) and can recall quite a bit about my days in College Station, but this night escapes me. I think I went to watch an intramural game and then hung out with friends. What I do remember is getting home around 2 am and walking down my dorm hallway, thinking that I should have gone to work on Bonfire and wondering if I could squeeze it in another night that week.
The next thing I remember is the phone waking me up around 5 am. It was a friend from back home who lived a few buildings over, and she was calling to tell me there had been some kind of Bonfire accident and another friend of ours from home was scheduled to be working there overnight with his squadron and we didn’t know where he was or if he was alright. Luckily, within a few hours we had located him and he was fine. The same could not be said for 12 others that morning.
I—like the rest of Bryan-College Station—spent the morning on the phone. I didn’t have a cell phone back then and so my dorm phone was jammed all day with calls from friends and family from around the country.
This incredibly sad time was my introduction to the amazing spirit of the Aggie Family. As the days went on and we learned the final number of casualties and started to come to grips with what had happened, my parents urged me to come home. Didn’t I want to get away from all the death and sadness? Didn’t I want to rest at home with my family? No. The honest truth was that the only place I wanted to be in the world at that time was College Station, TX. I wanted to be with my Aggie Family. With people who understood what I was feeling and could comfort me without even having to say a word. I remember going to the first memorial service on-campus at Reed Arena that week. Even after the official service had ended, people just stayed and linked arms and sang “Amazing Grace” a ccapella for what felt like hours.
We Aggies have a saying about our traditions and spirit: “From the outside looking in you can’t understand...from the inside looking out you can’t explain it.” And that’s exactly how I felt during this tragedy. I have never been more proud to be a part of the Aggie Family and I still have that pride today every time someone notices my ring, or asks me where I went to school, or mentions “that school with that Bonfire.”
Today we remember those 12 fallen Aggies: Miranda Denise Adams; Christopher D. Breen; Michael Stephen Ebanks; Jeremy Richard Frampton; Jamie Lynn Hand; Christopher Lee Heard; Timothy Doran Kerlee, Jr; Lucas John Kimmel; Bryan A. McClain; Chad A. Powell; Jerry Don Self; and Nathan Scott West.
There's a spirit can ne'er be told and it's the Spirit of Aggieland.
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4 comments:
I'm a current Ag, '09, about to head out to bonfire memorial after finishing a paper. I remember when stack collapsed; I was living in VA - a navy brat - and my parents turned on the news and just sat silent. My dad is an Ag as well, '80, and remembers his days here at A&M and working on bonfire. I remember being too young to really grasp what had happened. Now that I am here, now that this is home, I cry every year.
Simple moments like those spent at the memorial each year, in addition to Silver Taps and Muster, prove how deep the love of our Aggie Family runs. Each year I reflect on how we lost 12 Ags that day; not 10, not 13, but 12. Even in death, we're the 12th Man. The Spirit can truly ne'er be told, 'cept by those of Aggieland.
Well put Melissa. Interestingly enough your blog came up as the first result when I Googled today to see what others had to say. Matt
Although not an Aggie, my heart breaks for you and your Aggie family. It is a true testament that family is not always biological but is about heart and love.
Not an Aggie, but I am from TX. I remember I was living in ID at the time, on an AF base. There was a couple I knew from TX, who were both Aggies, who lived down the street from me. When she came crying down the street, I thought maybe something had happened to her husband. No, she said...it was at A&M. Bonfire. She was devastated. My heart broke for her, as well as the families of the 12 who lost their lives, and all the other Aggies out there. I loved what someone wrote earlier, about the traditions: if you are on the outside looking in, you can't quite grasp it, but if you are on the inside looking out, you can't quite explain it. I get that. Even though...we still care. :-)
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