Bonfire Remembrance

November 18 marks the 17th anniversary of the 1999 Aggie Bonfire collapse, which killed 12 and injured 27.

Aggies, family and friends gathered at the Bonfire Memorial for the annual Bonfire Remembrance Ceremony, beginning at 2:42 a.m., the time the 1999 Bonfire fell.

On November 18 and every day, we remember the 12 who died. The link next to each portrait below goes to a biographical tribute that appeared in the Bonfire Memorial Issue of Texas Aggie magazine in December 1999.

Miranda Denise Adams ’02: "Queen Of Bonfire"

Christopher D. Breen ’96: "Always An Aggie"

Michael Stephen Ebanks '03: "His Love Was Bonfire"

Jeremy Richard Frampton ’99: "Crossing All Boundaries"

Jamie Lynn Hand ’03: "Always Able To Make Others Laugh"

Christopher Lee Heard ’03: "A Natural Leader" 

Timothy Doran Kerlee, Jr. ’03: "The Spirit Of The 12th Man"   

Lucas John Kimmel ’03: "Carrying On Tradition" 

Bryan A. McClain ’02: "Symbolizing The Corps"

Chad A. Powell ’03: "A Desire To Help Others"

Jerry Don Self ’01: "Always Involved"

Nathan Scott West ’02: "A&M Was His Dream"

The annual Reflections Display in honor of the 12 will be in the MSC Flag Room from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

The Bonfire Memorial was dedicated on November 18, 2004, on the exact location of the 1999 Aggie Bonfire. The memorial is a place of reflection and remembrance for the Aggie family. Learn about the symbolism associated with its design at bonfire.tamu.edu.

Glenn Phillips '01 wrote "Experiencing the Bonfire Memorial" for the January-February 2005 issue of Texas Aggie magazine; you can read his essay here. 

Engraved on the walls of the Bonfire Memorial is a poem, The Last Corps Trip by Philo H. Duval, Jr. '51. This is a poem held close by the Aggie family and read annually at Muster ceremonies across the globe. Read the story of how the author came to write this treasured and unifying poem.

Texas A&M created this video tribute for the 10-year anniversary of the Bonfire collapse:

John Comstock, who nearly died in the 1999 collapse, now works for The Texas A&M University System. In 2016, the Bryan-College Station Eagle asked him to write a column. In it, he discusses the spirit it took to build bonfire. You can read his column here.