The families of each student wishes to say " Thank You" to each one for visiting this site.
...a memorial...
October 2008 has marked the end of the legal issues regarding this dark day in Nov 1999...it did not bring back the 12, nor did it remove the memory from the living... but at least it is past... and we can just remember the young people.. life went on after they left, but the space they left empty will never be filled... WE WILL REMEMBER! Update Nov 11, 2008
Nothing can reverse time to bring the lost ones back to their home and family. Time marches on, but these young people are now ageless. Texas A&M University campus is now home to the Aggie Bonfire Memorial.
The memorial was built on the site where Bonfire collapsed in the wee hours of the morning Nov. 18, 1999, while students worked on the final stages of construction. The portals and granite stones of the memorial’s circle, known as the Spirit Ring, symbolize the 12 Aggies who died and 27 others who were injured when the 40-foot stack of logs came crashing down.
Each 14-foot-tall portal opens to the center of the memorial and faces the hometown of the Aggie it honors.
“The idea is that the people who died that night became the missing links to the portal. By stepping into the portal, a person fills the void left by each fallen Aggie.” THE EAGLE, JUNE 27, 2004
The memorial was dedicated on the fifth anniversary of the tragedy. To their families, I want to say......We have not forgotten....We will not forget!
UNTHINKABLE
The banner headlines from Friday November 19,1999 "The Eagle" proclaimed the shock and disbelief of A&M and the surrounding communities, a shock which was felt by Aggies around the nation and around the world.
Photo from Dallas Morning News
Bonfire99 just a day before the fall
November the 18th, 1999, the midnight to 6am shift had begun. The students had worked weeks and mighty Bonfire was nearing completion.
In the wee hours of the morning, Bonfire quaked and in the space of seven seconds Twelve dedicated Aggies slipped the worldly bonds and others were trapped beneath the fallen logs of the structure. This moment in Time is captured within many memories. Let Bonfire's of the Future Burn in their honor, and when we light a candle..let the flame be a memorial to them.
There is much more below..But before you go.. Please SIGN the New Aggie Ribbons Guestbook..But PLEASE dont leave a private message, due to guestbook changes, right now NO_ONE can read them..thanks :)..*S*
*Pssst*..click only once to post..tho it says *error* your post should be there..:)
UPDATE! Nov. 18, 2002
John Comstock, the last Aggie hospitalized from injuries sustained in the fall of Bonfire99, is on the road to recovery.... and please send uplifting mail to
This page is under construction. Much will be added, including more tributes to the TWELVE. If you have anything that you wish to share here in this special place, a poem..a letter, a photo, please send us an e-mail.
Michael Stephen Ebanks '03 - Carrollton, Texas
