Medal of Honor Recipient Visits Memorial, Museum

Retired Marine Corporal William Carpenter stands alone in a formal military uniform as he looks at artist Spencer Finch’s Memorial Hall installation “Trying to Remember the Color of the Sky on That September Morning.” The installation includes 2,983 watercolor squares, each in its own shade of blue, and the Virgil quote, “No day shall erase you from the memory of time.”
Cpl. Carpenter pauses to reflect during his tour of the 9/11 Memorial Museum. (Photo Credit: Amy Dreher)

Retired Marine Cpl. William Kyle Carpenter visited the 9/11 Memorial and Museum on Wednesday morning, less than a week after receiving a Medal of Honor—the highest military award for valor in action.

President Barack Obama presented the award in a White House ceremony last Thursday.

Members of the New York City Fire Department, New York Police Department, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Department presented Carpenter with a cross made of World Trade Center steel. The cross was welded by an FDNY firefighter stationed in the Bronx.

Carpenter received a Medal of Honor for his exemplary service in Afghanistan in 2010, when he selflessly shielded his fellow Marines from a grenade blast and sustained several life-threatening wounds, including the loss of his right eye.

He is currently the youngest living recipient.

By Jennifer Finn, 9/11 Memorial Communications and Digital Media Intern

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Visitors Share Museum Experiences

Dozens of visitors walk around the glass and steel facade of the Museum pavilion on Memorial plaza.

On Sept. 11, 2001, Brooke Peace’s teacher collapsed in front of her first grade class after learning that one of the Twin Towers, where her son worked, was hit by a plane.

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Volunteer Brings Comfort, Closure to Museum Visitors

Volunteer Eileen Egan-Annechino smiles beside a reflecting pool on Memorial plaza on her first day of docent training. One World Trade Center is visible in the background.

After the events of Sept. 11, 2001, longtime Queens resident Eileen Egan-Annechino largely avoided downtown New York City.

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