They're dedicating the memorial to the 12 Aggies that passed away and the 27 that were injuried tomorrow.
I remember those days like it was yesterday. I got in from work late, around 2 a.m. and went to sleep, exhausted from a long day of classes, Corps obligations, and work. 42 minutes later, they came running through the dorms, knocking on doors, yelling that Bonfire had fallen.
Still groggy, i thought it was a dream and rolled over and went back to sleep. When i woke at 6 for morning formation, i've never heard a Corps dorm that eeirely quiet. I stuck my head out of my door to catch an upperclassman on my staff coming back from stack.
"Kitso, grab your pot, Bonfire fell and there are still people trapped inside."
I went out there and sat, helplessly, with my Aggie brethern while cranes picked logs off the stack one by one. The fact that all the logs were wired together made it painstaking work and agonizingly long. We finally were able to help, after they picked logs off, we were able to move them. Corps and Non-Reg, male and female. I'll never forget the football team showing up and helping to move logs.
It was a surreal day. I went back to my dorm room, to find my cell phone full of messages from people that i hadn't heard from since i was in HS 3 years earlier. My grandmother in NY was the first to hear of the tragedy, when she was getting up for work and had called my parents. I spent the afternoon, watching the slow progress on our campus closed circut TV. My mom told me that there were cars pulled off on the sides of the interstates in San Antonio, people glued to their radios, weeping.
We had a memorial after that, and the UT student body president and VP came down to talk. We ceased to be rivals and were fellow Texans. Most of us knew people at both schools. Yell Practice, the night before the game, and Kyle Field filled with candles, remembering the lost. Maroon and white ribbons everywhere. The Longhorn band, at halftime of the ensuing game, raising A&M flags and playing Amazing Grace.
I remember walking out to the plastic barrier they set up around the fallen stack. People had put posters, flowers, cards, Bonfire pots, axe handles. The most moving tribute, a collection of Aggie rings...any Ags prized possession, which you work 4 years for, can't order until you have 95 hours, the worldwide calling card of Aggies, placed on a stand by the site. Left to remember friends and fallen comrades.
12 kids, losing their lives doing what they loved. We will never forget.
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory...olitan/2904846
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory...olitan/2905294
I'll never forget one of my buddies from my outfit, who lost one of his good friends, weeping uncontrollably.
My beloved Aggieland has never been the same. We've lost a lot of our spirit, our uniqueness, our mark that set us apart from every other state university across the country. It hurts so much that i can't be there today, i was there for every other Bonfire rememberance. The one year rememberance, where we stood in freezing rain, holding candles, for 12 bell tolls. The year after, where fewer people braved the cold for another night of rememberance.
I still remember the Bonfire campusology that all fish in the Corps are required to memorize and recite on cue:
"Each year before the football game with t.u., Aggies gather wood and timber, to build a huge BONFIIIRE!! which symbolizes the burning desire to beat the HELLLLL out of t.u. and the undying spirit that all Aggies have for Texas A&M. The BONFIIRE!! is normally set ablaze the night before the game, when it is played at Kyle Field, and 2 nights before the game, when it is played in Austin, SIR!!"
For the Twelve:
HERE!
KS 361
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