Photo Story: Fort McCoy firefighters honor those lost on 9/11

Photo By Scott Sturkol | Fort McCoy firefighters participate in the 2026 9/11 Memorial Run and Stair Climb on Sept. 11, 2026, at Fort McCoy, Wis. Three firefighters completed the run in full gear and also did the stair climb in full gear — all in honor of emergency responders lost on Sept. 11, 2001. Nearly 100 Soldiers, veterans, military retirees, Fort McCoy employees and others participated in the 2026 event, which included a 2.975-mile run/1.34-mile walk followed by a stair climb inside one of Fort McCoy’s four-story barracks buildings. The stair climb is designed as a physical remembrance of the thousands of emergency responders who climbed the stairs of the World Trade Center towers after the attacks. (U.S. Army Photo by Scott T. Sturkol, Fort McCoy Public Affairs Office)  

FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, UNITED STATES

09.16.2026

Story by Scott Sturkol                                                                                                                     

Fort McCoy Public Affairs Office           

Fort McCoy firefighters participated in the 2026 9/11 Memorial Run and Stair Climb on Sept. 11, 2026, at Fort McCoy, Wis.

Three firefighters completed the run in full gear and also did the stair climb in full gear — all in honor of emergency responders lost on Sept. 11, 2001.

Nearly 100 Soldiers, veterans, military retirees, Fort McCoy employees and others participated in the 2026 event, which included a 2.975-mile run/1.34-mile walk followed by a stair climb inside one of Fort McCoy’s four-story barracks buildings.

The stair climb is designed as a physical remembrance of the thousands of emergency responders who climbed the stairs of the World Trade Center towers after the attacks.

Fort McCoy’s motto beginning in 2026 is “Training the Total Force and Shaping the Future since 1909.” The installation’s mission: “Fort McCoy strengthens Total Force Readiness by serving as a training center, Mobilization Force Generation Installation, and Strategic Support Area enabling warfighter lethality to deploy, fight, and win our nation’s wars.”

And Fort McCoy’s vision is, “To be the premier training center supporting the most capable, combat-ready, and lethal armed forces.”

Located in the heart of the upper Midwest, Fort McCoy is the only U.S. Army installation in Wisconsin. The installation has provided support and facilities for the field and classroom training of more than 100,000 military personnel from all services nearly every year since 1984.

Learn more about Fort McCoy online athttps://home.army.mil/mccoy, on Facebook by searching “ftmccoy,” on Flickr at https://www.flickr.com/photos/fortmccoywi, and on X (formerly Twitter) by searching “usagmccoy.” Also try downloading the My Army Post app to your smartphone and set “Fort McCoy” or another installation as your preferred base. Fort McCoy is also part of Army’s Installation Management Command where “We Are The Army’s Home.”

• Date Taken: 09.16.2026
• Date Posted: 09.16.2026 13:53
• Story ID: 574890
• Location: FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, US