# A clear blue sky over Navy Pier, 25 years on

> Chicago firefighters marked a quarter century since Sept. 11 with a ceremony that said almost nothing out loud.
- Title: A clear blue sky over Navy Pier, 25 years on | Shortify
- Summary: Chicago firefighters marked a quarter century since Sept. 11 with a ceremony that said almost nothing out loud. The most powerful remembrance wasn't a…
- Keywords: september 11, chicago, firefighters, memorial, navy pier, news, local, clear, blue, sky, Navy, Pier
- Source: Chicago Sun-Times — https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/2026/09/11/chicago-fire-department-commemorates-25th-anniversary-sept-11-terrorist-attacks
- Published: 2026-09-11T15:00:43.446+00:00
- Read time: 2 min
- Topics: september 11, chicago, firefighters, memorial, navy pier, news, local
## The same blue sky
Chicagoans woke Friday to clear skies and a light fall breeze, the same weather the city had 25 years earlier. That detail set the tone for everything that followed.

> Chicagoans woke to a clear blue sky and a light fall breeze Friday, just as they did 25 years ago.
## Standing at attention
At Navy Pier, members of the Chicago Fire Department lined up for a memorial ceremony marking the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
## Two generations in formation
Many firefighters there were too young to remember the day at all. They stood beside colleagues who lived through it.
## The ones who drove east
Some in the crowd had caravanned to New York City in 2001 to help search the rubble of the Twin Towers. A quarter century later, they were back in formation at home.

> others in attendance had caravanned in 2001 to New York City to help firefighters search through the rubble
## Dignitaries who stayed quiet
Sen. Dick Durbin, Gov. JB Pritzker and Mayor Brandon Johnson attended, along with Reps. Jonathan Jackson, Delia Ramirez and Mike Quigley. None of them spoke.
## Silence as a choice
Skipping the podium was the point. On a morning built for speeches, the officials let the department and the ritual carry it instead.

> Dignitaries ... stood by but did not speak to the crowd.
## A prayer for the departed
A CFD chaplain offered the prayer, the only real words of the morning.
## Boats on the water
Chicago Fire boats floated just off the pier during the ceremony, a working department's version of an honor guard.
## A helicopter overhead
A CFD helicopter flew over the crowd as the prayer was given, pulling every eye upward on a cloudless September morning.
## Amazing Grace, then Taps
Bagpipers played "Amazing Grace." An Illinois State Police trooper followed with "Taps." The two tunes did the work a eulogy would have.
## The bell and the silence
The CFD honor guard performed a ceremonial bell ringing, and the department held a moment of silence. Commissioner Annette Nance-Holt hugged a supporter in the crowd.
## Steel from the towers
Two pieces of steel recovered from the World Trade Center sat at the ceremony, the physical link between Navy Pier and lower Manhattan.
## Short, solemn, over
The whole thing was brief by design. Another beautiful September day, remembered by a department that knows what the job can cost.

> The ceremony was a short and solemn reminder of another beautiful September day.
## Key takeaway

The most powerful remembrance wasn't a speech. It was bagpipes, a bell, and a department standing still.