Powerful Oral History on Bringing WTC Steel Overseas

I’ve had the honor of meeting quite a few “every day heroes” in my roles as oral historian and assistant curator at the 9/11 Memorial Museum. Of the hundreds of extraordinary people that I’ve met, Master Sgt. Bubba Beason has been among the most memorable.

We first met in January 2010, weeks before his seventh deployment to Afghanistan. Beason, who hails from Louisiana, is a career airplane mechanic with the United States Air Force. Insisting his story wasn’t anything special, he was humbly reluctant to record with me. He had just secured two pieces of World Trade Center steel to take with him overseas. He planned to deposit one with a firehouse in Kabul, and the second on Peter Ganci base in Kyrgyzstan — a base which is named for Peter Ganci, who was chief of the department of the New York City Fire Department and its highest ranking member killed on 9/11 — as a reminder of “why we are there.”

Beason spoke about symbols and the power of the recovered World Trade Center steel in helping to bring into focus his service mission. Through this tangible steel, he has made it his personal responsibility to reinforce for fellow servicemen and women a mission that is also paramount to us at the 9/11 Memorial: to “never forget” those who were killed on 9/11, and to never underestimate the freedoms we are fortunate to have as Americans. His commitment was an emotional reminder of how the 9/11 attacks continue to directly impact thousands who may never have been near the actual attack sites on Sept. 11. Here is a selection of his oral history:

By Jenny Pachucki, 9/11 Memorial Oral Historian