Seal Beach paused to reflect on the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on Friday, Sept. 11, 2026. Ceremonies were held at Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach and Fire Station 44 in Old Town. The Seal Beach Police Department installed 25 US flags in front of headquarters at 911 Seal Beach Blvd.
The Fire Station 44 ceremony was put on by Seal Beach City Rotary.
Space does not allow for a word for word transcript of the entire ceremony. What follows are highlights.
“To honor the nearly 3,000 lives lost that day, the Seal Beach Police Department has installed 25 American flags in front of our police station -one for each year that has passed since that tragic morning,” according to the SBPD Facebook post.
“For those of us who serve in public safety, we will never forget the first responders who ran toward danger when others were fleeing from it, many making the ultimate sacrifice for people they had never met,” the post said, in part.
At Fire Station 44, Sister Eymard Flood, the Seal Beach Police Chaplain, gave the invocation.
Also speaking at the fire station, District Three Councilwoman/Mayor Lisa Landau said those present gathered to remember a day that changed the nation forever. “Twenty-five years have passed, but the images, the sorrow, the extraordinary courage that morning remain etched into the heart of America,” Landau said.
“America’s founding was deeply influenced by Christianity and by the Biblical understanding that every human life possesses God—given dignity,” Landau said.
Landau said freedom comes from a belief central to our founding: “Human dignity comes from a power higher than government.”
Orange County Fire Authority Reserve Academy Cadet Noah Bartleson said he was not old enough to experience September 11th first hand. “But not having witnessed it does not lessen my responsibility to remember it. In fact, it makes the responsibility even greater,” Bartleson said.
“Courage is choosing to move forward despite fear because someone else needs your help,” Bartleson said.
He said the firefighters who responded on 9/11 showed that no firefighter serves alone. “Every firefighter must trust the person beside them. Every crew must work as one,” Bartleson said.
OCFA Division 1 Fire Chief Craig Covey said he just found his replacement.
“Twenty-fire years ago today, I was driving on my way to work at Fire Station 57 in Aliso Viejo, and like usual, I was listening to the morning radio program, Kevin and Bean on K Rock,” Covey said. At first, he thought they were joking.
“This was the JFK of our generation, right?” Covey asked, referring to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
“We remember this, and hopefully, we’ll never forget,” Covey said.
“Most recently, I deployed to the devastating Guadalupe River floods in Texas, looking for all those poor kids,” he said.
“And after all those years and all those disasters, I still see something that I want to emphasize tonight: the American spirit is incredible,” Covey said.
“When Americans are hurting, other American’s show up. Firefighters show up, police officers show up, every walk of life shows up, and they don’t ask what political party you’re from,” Covey said.
“They don’t care what you believe. They ask one question: ‘How can I help?’” Covey said.
He said the firefighters who climbed the stairs of the World Trade Center carried over 70 pounds of equipment.
“Many of them knew they may not be coming back down,” Covey said.
He said 343 firefighters did not come back down from the Twin Towers.
He visited Ground Zero. He said construction workers set up an overlook for families of the victims while the search took place.
“Those wood beams were all covered. It wasn’t graffiti. It was messages of love,” Covey said.
“Twenty-five years later maybe one of the most important lessons September 11 can remind us or teach us: We are strongest when we stand together,” Covey said.
Referring to the Flight 93 passengers who fought back against the terrorists, Covey quoted Todd Beamer’s famous words as the passengers prepared to try to take back control of the plane: “Let’s roll.”
Seal Beach Police Chief Michael Henderson was a trainee in the Carson Station in Los Angeles County the day of the World Trade Center attack. “Having worked the night before, my wife came in and woke me up, said something terrible was happening, and we watched as the towers fell,” Henderson said.
He had been training as a sheriff’s deputy and suddenly the mission had changed.
“We spent the next several days guarding oil refineries and having serious conversations about how we might have to drive across the country to support our colleagues and partners in New York,” Henderson said.
“That never came to pass, but law enforcement changed radically after that, and it affected all of us,” Henderson said.
He said he wanted to get into the fight and see how we could protect the nation.
He eventually pursued a degree in emergency management with terrorism studies.
“Public safety depends upon cooperation amongst law enforcement, fire services, emergency medical personnel, government leaders, community organizations, and the residents we serve,” Henderson said.
Before closing, Henderson asked for a round of applause for the families of first responders. “For a time, our differences seemed smaller because we understood how much we depended upon one another,” Henderson said.Henderson asked God to protect every first responder and member of the armed forces.
Other speakers included Seal Beach Marine Safety Chief Joe Bailey, Chad Berlinghieri (president of Seal Beach City Rotary), State Sen. Tony Strickland, and Pastor Bob Wriedt of Grace Community Church.
The ceremony concluded with a a walk lit by electric candles to the Salon Meritage Memorial, followed by Chad Berlinghieri performing a reading of the poem “We Shall Never Forget” by Alan W. Jankowski, and a memorial display of two search light beams reaching to the sky to honor the memory of the Twin Towers and the lives lost on Sept. 11, 2001.