Soldiers march in remembrance of the 9/11 attack victims at Camp Humphreys, South Korea, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024. (Luis Garcia/Stars and Stripes)

MARINE CORPS AIR STATION IWAKUNI, Japan — Thousands of people at U.S. military bases in the Pacific marked the 23rd anniversary of 9/11 in sweat, whether toiling up and down a symbolic 110 flights of stairs or humping a ruck sack across an Army base.

At this Marine Corps air base south of Hiroshima, students from all grades, teachers and parents met on the playing field at Matthew C. Perry High School for a moment of silence before taking to the track for a Freedom Walk. More than 200 people walked two laps for the event.

“I came from a school that did something similar,” Traci Crites, an education technologist for Matthew C. Perry Primary School who organized the event, told Stars and Stripes on Wednesday. “I thought that it was such a great idea just to honor 9/11 and the military members where we live.”

Crites said this is the first time since she started working for Department of Defense schools five years ago that the base has held a Freedom Walk.

“We really try to build community, welcome the parents in and make sure they know they’re a part of our school,” she said.

Meanwhile, the base fire department, behind the high school, held its 11th annual stair-climb in a five-story training tower. Climbing the tower 21 times is equivalent to the 110 stories in each of the two World Trade Center towers brought down by al-Qaida hijackers in commercial airliners.

“We do this every year to honor the firefighters that lost their lives on the day of 9/11,” Marine Sgt. Joel Atkinson, 23, a firefighter and airfield rescue specialist, said Wednesday. “We just come together, and then we show our respects through sweat.”

Atkinson said organizers expected more than 400 people at the event.

“Going up the World Trade Center was no easy feat. I mean, they’re faced with insurmountable odds going up 110 stories,” Atkinson said. “So, to me, it’s important to pay your respect, because they did their job, and they paid the price for it.”

Marines, sailors and base residents take part in the 9/11 memorial stair climb at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024. (Jonathan Snyder/Stars and Stripes)

Students, teachers and parents remember the 9/11 attacks with a freedom walk at Matthew C. Perry High School on Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024. (Jonathan Snyder/Stars and Stripes)

A team works toward climbing 110 stories during a 9/11 memorial stair-climb challenge at Yokota Air Base, Japan, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024. (Jeremy Stillwagner/Stars and Stripes)

Essential tribute

Farther north, Yokota Air Base, mounted its annual stair climb in a vacant, nine-story housing tower at the key airlift hub in western Tokyo.

“It’s essential that we not only pay tribute to those who were taken from us, but also to continue the dialog of unity, healing and hope,” Lloyd Stinson III, fire chief with the 374th Civil Engineering Squadron, said in a speech before the climb.

“This occasion gives us the opportunity to reflect on how far we have come, what we have learned and how we can move forward together as a stronger community,” he said.

Approximately 35 people donned firefighting gear to make the climb 12 times, either solo or in small teams.

“It’s very important to honor the people that went through those attacks in 2001 and responded to them,” Tech. Sgt. Trevor Williams, the health and safety officer for the stair-climb, told Stars and Stripes at the event.

The ceremony concluded with the traditional ringing of a bell three times for the firefighters who lost their lives on Sept. 11, 2001.

“To symbolize the devotion firefighters have for their calling, a special signal is given – three rings, three times – representing the completion of their task and that they will be returning to quarters,” said Senior Airman Brandon Greer, a Yokota firefighter and the master of ceremonies.

Soldiers march in remembrance of the 9/11 attack victims at Camp Humphreys, South Korea, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024. (Luis Garcia/Stars and Stripes)

Soldiers march in remembrance of the 9/11 attack victims at Camp Humphreys, South Korea, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024. (Luis Garcia/Stars and Stripes)

‘We bond in tragedy’

At the Army’s Camp Humphreys, South Korea, the largest U.S. base overseas, about 1,000 service members and other residents showed for a 9/11 remembrance ruck march.

“9/11 was one of the reasons why I joined,” Sgt. 1st Class Telvin Anderson told Stars and Stripes at the event. “It’s unfortunate, but we bond in tragedy, so after 9/11 we came together as a country, and I still see that today.”

The ruck march had three route options symbolizing the three attack sites where airliners crashed on 9/11 – the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon in Arlington, Va., and a field outside Shanksville, Pa.

Distances varied according to route: 3.5 miles, seven or 9.11 miles for the trade center route.

Participants brought their own weights and shouldered Army standard-issue MOLLE 2 rucksacks, with a vintage ALICE pack here and there.

“Coming from a firefighter family, I knew people involved, and it’s good to honor the people we lost,” Warrant Officer Justin Ballardini said at the event. “The hurt is still there, and there’s still a reason why we are doing these ruck marches.”