A small stand encouraging attendees to reflect; the tags below the text are meant to be written on and tied to a flag that is part of the Waves of Flags display. Jennifer Seetoo, a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Commander, said that law enforcement and first responders who were around during 9/11 remember the sense of wanting to do more. Photos by Griffin Pilcher.
On the morning of Sept. 11, 2026, Pepperdine students, faculty, staff, and guests honored those who lost their lives on 9/11.
Pepperdine hosted its annual 9/11 Remembrance Ceremony, featuring a keynote address by honoree Chris Fields, a retired Oklahoma City Fire Department (OKCFD) Major. Introductions by Eric Leshinsky, director of Student Veteran Affairs and U.S. Air Force veteran, and Lauren Consentino, chief development officer for Advancement, and remarks from University President Jim Gash.
“Tragedy may test us, but it does not have to define us,” Fields said. “Faith gives us strength, community gives us hope and service gives us purpose.”
Executive Vice President Phil Phillips presided over the ceremony and said that 25 years ago, on Sept. 11, Americans stepped into a world different from the one we knew.
“We always knew that there was evil,” Phillips said.
Phillips said that when Americans witnessed the terrorist attacks that took the lives of nearly 3,000 people across large swaths of the country, there was light that appeared in the darkness.
“We watched policemen and firemen and other first responders rush into the World Trade Center time and time again to rescue their neighbors,” Phillips said. “Some of them paid the ultimate price.”
Phillips read scripture from John 15:13 and said that brave men and women crossed the ocean to take the fight to the enemy, and ordinary people gave themselves to serve those who were hurt or in need.
Following the remarks of Phillips, the Presentation of Colors was carried out by Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps cadets from Loyola Marymount University.
University Chaplain Dee Dee Mayer led an invocation as part of the ceremony.
“We gather here today in the midst of 1000s of flags moving in the breeze,” Mayer said. “These flags have been placed with care in remembrance of the lives lost on September 11, 2001.”
Junior Madelyn Rempel then sang the U.S. National Anthem, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance, led by Pepperdine student veterans, military family members and PeppVet Council President Bailey Steele, who then read Psalm 23.
Leshinsky introduced Fields and said that six years prior to the Sept. 11 attacks, the United States endured the deadliest domestic terrorist attack in its history, the Oklahoma City Bombing on April. 19, 1995. Fields responded that day as part of the OKCFD.
“Chris dealt with the invisible scars of that day for many years,” Leshinsky said. “It was only with the help of his family and deep faith that he was able to find his way out of the suffering.”
Honoree speaker Chris Fields stands at the podium delivering the keynote address as part of the remembrance ceremony. Fields said that 54 New York City firefighters came after the Oklahoma City Bombing to assist with an urban search and rescue team, and nine of the firefighters who were part of that team died on 9/11.
Fields now speaks to groups across the country about the emotional and mental challenges first responders face, Leshinsky said.
“Today, we remember the 2,977 people who lost their lives that day,” Fields said.
Fields said he was not at Ground Zero and would never pretend his experience was the same as the men and women there. Six years earlier, however, at 9:02 a.m. on April 19, 1995, he learned what it was like to wake up on an ordinary morning and have everything change in seconds.
“Just like September 11 would do six years later, that morning divided time into two parts: before and after,” Fields said.
Fields said many in attendance today have probably seen the photograph of a firefighter cradling 1-year-old Bailey Almon – that firefighter was him.
“For most of my life, when people see that photo, they’ve seen that one moment,” Fields said. “But I lived everything that came after it.”
Fields said the most important lesson of Sept. 11 was what happened Sept. 12 and every day that came after that, which is just as important.
“We stopped looking for all the things that made us different,” Fields said. “We looked at each other and we saw Americans.”
Fields said we shouldn’t need buildings to fall before we decide to serve, and we shouldn’t need another national emergency before we remember we need each other.
“Those of us who do remember have a responsibility,” Fields said. “We have to tell them, not so they inherit the fear, not so they inherit the anger, but so that they inherit our understanding of what courage, sacrifice, faith and service look like.”
Following the conclusion of the keynote address, Gash presented Fields with a retired flag from the Waves of Flags installation as a form of gratitude. Afterward, Gash began his remarks.
“Today we mourn, we celebrate and we honor the lives of the noble heroes who answer the call to duty,” Gash said. “Some 25 years ago, they followed that call all the way to the end.”
Fields and Sid Fernandez, a Pepperdine Department of Public Safety Patrol Operations Captain and 25-year NYPD veteran, ended the ceremony by placing the final flag in the Waves of Flags display.
L.A. County firefighter Anthony Souza said he vividly remembered his teacher putting on the attacks on TV in elementary school and crying as a kid. He said that the event means a lot to him.
“Something to give to the younger generation is don’t forget, right,” Souza said. “All of the first responders that rushed in when everyone else was running out, they gave their lives for strangers.”
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Contact Oliver Evans via email: oliver.evans@pepperdine.edu