The following articles were found with tag aggies:
Bonfire: The Memorial - Two Thumbs Way UP
Sat Jan 05, 2008 at 02.03
If you ever venture into the great state of Texas and have opportunity to visit Aggieland (College Station) I highly recommend visiting the Bonfire Memorial. The design of the memorial is a bit abstract for any non-Aggie -- afterall, from the outside looking in you can't understand it, from the inside looking out you can't explain it -- but I will try to capture the essence of the memorial here.
Bonfire is a tradition dating back to 1907 but no longer burns on campus after the tradegy that took place on November 18, 1999. The stack, for the third time in it's history, collapsed killing eleven students and one former student and injuring twenty seven more. This would spell doom for a university-sanctioned bonfire.
In rememberance of the fallen Aggies a memorial has been constructed on the site where bonfire once burned. The very center of the memorial is the spot where center pole stood. The basic construction of the memorial is a ring -- a spirit ring -- to symbolize the unending spirit that unites all Aggies, past, present, and future. A "history walk" leads from the entrance of the memorial to the spirit ring and consists of 89 stones and 89 lights, each representing a year that bonfire burned on campus. The missing stone from 1909 to 1999 is for the year 1963 when President John F Kennedy was assasinated. Bonfire was built, but never burned out of respect for the late President. The spirit ring consists of 27 granite blocks connection 12 portals, representing an Aggie that was injured and a lost Aggie respectively. The blocks are left blank in rememberance of all Aggies that were injured over the 90 years that bonfire burned on campus. Inside the twelve portals, however, are carved into bronze the faces, names, and warm memories of the twelve fallen Aggies. From personal experience I can tell you that once you visit this memorial and read the twelve portals you will feel as if you knew each of the fallen and they will stay with you for the rest of your life. Standing in the portal you are said to be filling the hole in the spirit ring created by the missing Aggie. You can look from center pole through each portal and your line-of-sight will be directed at the hometown of the portal's respective person.
The designers and builders of this memorial did an excellent job. These twelve will never be forgotten.
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- texas a&m
- aggies
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