FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Sept. 11, 2026
SHREVEPORT – “Are they ready?”
That was the question President George W. Bush asked, pointing at the B-52 Stratofortress Bombers as he walked toward Air Force One to depart Barksdale Air Force Base on Sept. 11, 2001.
Bush, who started the day at a school in Sarasota, Fla., made a surprise exit and eventual jaunt to Barksdale after passenger airplanes crashed into two of World Trade Center towers.
Nearly 3,000 died in the New York City attacks plus an attack on the Pentagon and a foiled attack in which passengers regained control of United Airlines Flight 93 and crashed in a field near Shanksville, Penn.
On the 25th anniversary of the deadliest terrorist attacks in history, community members gathered at LSUS to remember the fallen and to retell Shreveport-Bossier’s role on that fateful day.
BAFB historian Lane Callaway said U.S. officials chose Barksdale as their destination after leaving Florida because of its inland location and secure facilities.
“Barksdale Air Force Base has accommodated presidents over the years, so the runway was capable of handling Air Force One,” Callaway said. “Barksdale also had the security needed as there was constant tail cover and F-16s in the air for protection as threats to security were swirling in the hours after the attacks.
“The president used the offices of the 8th Air Force for communications, operations, intelligence, updates and so forth. It’s incredible how quickly the base made preparations to host the president, his staff, and about 100 national correspondents.”
Bush landed at 10:47 a.m. and made his first address to the nation at 12:36 p.m. from the 8th Air Force Conference Room. He then left for an Air Force Base in Nebraska before returning to Washington D.C. later that day.
“Freedom, itself, was attacked this morning by a faceless coward, and freedom will be defended,” Bush said to start his statement. “I want to reassure the American people that the full resources of the federal government are working to assist local authorities to save lives and to help the victims of these attacks. Make no mistake – the United States will hunt down and punish those responsible for these cowardly attacks.”
The wooden lectern used by Bush in that national address resides in the Barksdale Global Power Museum.
Those bombers housed at Barksdale are a show of global power as they can strike an adversary anywhere in the world, including in the ensuing Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom as part of the Global War on Terrorism.
Robert Elder, retired Lt. Gen. in the Air Force, was stationed in Europe at the time of the attacks and later participated in Operation Enduring Freedom from Oman and subsequent operations in the region.
“For students and those who either weren’t alive on Sept. 11 or weren’t old enough to remember, I would ask you to talk to parents and ask them where they were when they heard about the attacks and how it affected them,” Elder said. “You hear about all the lives that were lost, but also of the valor of the people that responded immediately.
“First responders and even building staff, there are incredible stories of how they helped thousands more get out and survive. We have to preserve the history of this day and pass it on from generation to generation.”
An exhibit in the LSUS Collaboratory accompanied the speakers as a tangible record of Shreveport-Bossier’s role on that day.
The exhibit encourages residents to remember the role of its city along with the national narrative and its impact.
“Remembering what happened locally helps us understand how history reaches individual communities through people, institutions, and decisions made under extraordinary pressure,” the exhibit reads. “Preserving this story honors not only those who were lost, but also the service, readiness and responsibility of those called to respond.
“Twenty-five years later, Barksdale’s experience reminds us that history is not only something witnessed from afar but sometimes, without warning, a community is called to become a part of it.”
In addition to the event and exhibit, LSUS refurbished its memorial to prisoners of war and those missing in action by planting Purple Heart flowers around the memorial.
Members of the Red River Gardening Club led by LSUS students Lawrence Harrison and April George coordinated with Adam LeBlanc, director of the Veterans Resource Center and veteran of the Texas Air National Guard.