09/12/2026
We’ve spent most of today trying to figure out what to say about September 11th. The truth is, 25 years later, it’s still hard to find the right words.
Today we remember the 2,977 innocent people who lost their lives on September 11, 2001. We remember the firefighters, police officers, first responders, and ordinary Americans who ran toward danger to help people they had never met.
But when we say “Never Forget,” we believe that means remembering what came after that day, too.
9/11 changed the course of an entire generation. It led our country into more than two decades of war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thousands of American service members never made it home. Many more came home wounded, and others came home carrying wounds you can’t see. We have continued to lose veterans long after the fighting ended for them.
As the owner of Coleman Electrical and Coleman Customs, and as an Iraq War veteran myself, September 11th has always meant more to me than a date on the calendar. It changed the direction of my generation and eventually became part of my own story and the stories of so many men and women I had the honor of serving beside.
I also remember the America that came after 9/11.
For a little while, we weren’t divided by politics or everything else that seems to separate us today. We were Americans. Flags hung from homes, businesses, bridges, and trucks. Neighbors looked after neighbors. People helped complete strangers. We were hurting, but we stood together.
We shouldn’t need another tragedy to remember how to be that country.
So today, from our families and everyone at Coleman Electrical and Coleman Customs, we remember those who were taken from us on September 11th. We remember those who answered the call afterward. We remember those who gave their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan, those who came home carrying the weight of war, and the families who sacrificed alongside them.
For many of us, September 11th didn’t end on September 11, 2001.
Never forget that day.
Never forget what followed.
And never forget all of them. 🇺🇸
— Coleman Electrical & Coleman Customs LLC
Veteran Owned • Family Operated
