WTC steel arrives at Louisiana firehouse after years-long wait
A 20-foot beam from the remains of the destroyed World Trade Center was greeted with bowed head, tears and prayer when it was recently received at a fire district in Louisiana.
According to a St.Tammany News report by Suzanne Le Breton, Fire District 12 Deputy Chief Steve Krentel has been trying to get a piece of WTC steel for use for a memorial for years. The beam reportedly arrived this month on a trailer, draped in an American flag, "serving as a reminder of the many coffins holding firefighters and other first responders that were laid to rest in the days and months following September 11."
The beam is to be used as a centerpiece for a proposed memorial proposed at the fire station at the intersection of Louisiana Highway 36 and Louisiana Highway 32 in Covington, La., about 42 miles north of New Orleans on the other side of Lake Pontchartrain. The fire district plans to erect the memorial featuring the beam in time for the upcoming anniversary of Sept. 11
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which is building the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, is seeking proposals from public and city agencies and not-for-profit groups interested in acquiring a piece of 9/11 World Trade Center steel for public display. Tons and tons of WTC steel are being stored at a JFK airport hangar. Communities across the country are receiving pieces of remnant steel.
Several large pieces of WTC steel will be part of the exhibition experience of the 9/11 Memorial Museum, which is scheduled to open in 2012.
By Michael Frazier, Sr. Communications Manager for the 9/11 Memorial
Even from thousands of feet in the sky, the two acre-sized 9/11 Memorial pools can be made out.Photographer Joe Woolhead routinely snaps pictures (like the one above) of the construction progress at the World Trade Center site. Find more of his photos her
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