NAPERVILLE, Ill. (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Just steps from the DuPage River, there's the sounds of cicadas and ducks swimming. Nearby, there is a serene and haunting memorial in the shadow of Naperville's Municipal Center and a beautiful covered bridge.
"This is hallowed ground, it really is," said Marty Walker, Americanism Committee member, retired Carol Stream firefighter.
On September 11, 2003, the city dedicated a memorial to Naperville native and Commander Dan Shanower who died that day in the Pentagon. The memorial was one of the first in the nation to be completed.
"Dan Shanower graduated from Naperville Central, enrolled in the Naval Academy, and ironically he gets killed as he sat as his desk at the Pentagon when Flight 77 crashed into the building," Walker said.
Shanower's boot print, a perennial garden, a bench, and a wall of faces make up the memorial at 400 South Eagle Street along the Riverwalk.
"They got the granite from Shanksville, they got pieces of the Pentagon. The local high school helped. They created a wall of faces that represent the people that were affected by 9/11. When you look at this piece of steel, this piece of granite, and those stones represents 3,000 lives were lost amongst the 343 firefighters and the 60 police officers. 9/11 affected the whole world," Walker said.
Walker was a Carol Stream firefighter in 2001. He and 10 other colleagues traveled to New York to help grieving families.
"The governor told us we need you to go to various firehouses throughout the city to talk to families of the grieving. We spent two weeks there. We talked to people who lost loved ones. We tried to console them. We traveled the city and the state and attended memorial services. It was very, very emotional," he said.
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Walker also walked through Ground Zero.
"It was a war zone - the debris, the mud, the soot, the ash, the concrete chunks that destroyed fire trucks, police cars. We saw it from above, you look at the photos on TV, it doesn't even come close to what it was like," he said.
He said he still has his uniform with the soot from the wreckage.
"I've left my uniform exactly the same way. It's still hanging in my closet with all the stuff still on it. I couldn't have it cleaned." he shakes his head.
Walker said he visits the Shanower Memorial often, to reflect and remember the experience and what and who was lost.
"I just walk over two, three times day and sit on the bench and think. The 20-year anniversary is a milestone. Look what's going on in the world now. Things are still turbulent. Things haven't changed a whole lot. This is a time we can get together as a community and remember that," he said. "I think about all the people who were affected. I still have friends who are suffering from cancer right now, respiratory diseases from being in that area."
Naperville will commemorate the 20th anniversary of 9/11 at the memorial with bagpipers, a color guard, and gold star families. It's something Walker said the community needs every year.
"It brings our community together to wrap around each other and say," he choked up, "that we won't forget."
Naperville will commemorate the 20th anniversary of 9/11 at the Shanower Memorial on Saturday at 8:30 a.m. beginning with the Naperville Municipal Band.
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