This year, Naperville’s Sept. 11 remembrance event will mark both the 22nd anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the nation and the 20-year anniversary of the city’s Cmdr. Dan Shanower Memorial.
Close up of the Cmdr. Dan Shanower Memorial
Sept. 11 remembrance event
The remembrance event will take place at 6 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 11, at the Shanower Memorial, with music from the Naperville Municipal Band starting at 5:45 p.m.
The featured speaker will be Dan Basco, a survivor of the attacks on the World Trade Center. Basco is a founding member of American Pride, Inc., a nonprofit that helps survivors of the 9/11 attacks share their stories with the public, and reminds the public of the value of first responders. He’ll be sharing his own story of how he made it out safely from the 57th floor of the North Tower.
Also speaking will be Naperville Mayor Scott Wehrli, Police Chief Jason Arres, and Fire Chief Mark Puknaitis.
In the event of rain, the remembrance ceremony will move inside of the Naperville Municipal Center, into council chambers.
About the Shanower Memorial
Commander Dan Shanower, photo courtesy Pat Shanower
The Shanower Memorial was erected as a remembrance of Commander Dan Shanower. The Naperville native, a Navy officer, was in the Pentagon on 9/11 and perished in the attacks. The memorial stands in tribute to him and the nearly 3,000 others who lost their lives that day.
It stands along the Naperville Riverwalk, between the DuPage River and the Naperville Municipal Center. The memorial was created using rubble from the Pentagon, part of a steel beam from the World Trade Center, and some granite from the Shanksville, Pennsylvania, area where United Flight 93 crashed after passengers tried to regain control of the plane.
The sculpture is flanked on one side by a retaining wall featuring more than 140 faces, symbolizing the many lives lost on 9/11.
It was dedicated on Sept. 11, 2003, making Naperville one of the first cities in America to dedicate a memorial to those who had died in the 9/11 attacks.
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