Steve Steo, an NYPD Detective with the 75th Precinct in Brooklyn, New York, reported to ground zero on Sept. 12, 2001 to aid in the search and rescue of survivors after the 9/11 attacks. Recently, the 9/11 Memorial Museum acquired an artifact that speaks to Steo’s time at ground zero and calls to memory the strange somberness of the holiday season that year.

Steo’s efforts during the first days of the response were personally driven. His good friend, Joseph Vigiano, a detective with NYPD Emergency Services Squad 2, was among the first responders reported missing. Vigiano’s older brother, FDNY Firefighter John Vigiano was also reported missing.

After both brothers were confirmed dead, Steo never relented in his effort to locate them during his six-month tenure on recovery detail.

On the evening of Sept. 18, Steo rappelled into a deep void in hopes of locating his friends. As he worked his way out of the fallen steel, a glittering object caught his eye. This turned out to be a relatively intact souvenir Christmas ornament which was likely once sold in the gift shop at the World Trade Center’s South Tower Observatory.

The ornament depicts a gilded World Trade Center complex set against a gold, star-flecked, deep blue sky, with the Statue of Liberty and Hudson River in the foreground. The reverse side is punctuated by bold, red, letters that read, “Peace on Earth.”

Many years later, Steo met with the 9/11 Memorial Museum’s Associate Curator Alexandra Drakakis and presented the ornament to the museum in memory of his fallen friend, Joseph Vigiano.

By Jenny Pachucki, 9/11 Memorial Content Strategist

Thanksgiving Day draws many people to New York City, and millions have visited the 9/11 Memorial since it opened last year. Among visitors on Thanksgiving were the men and women who had been working in New York and New Jersey for several weeks after Sandy. Some spent Thanksgiving away from their families in a big, unfamiliar city. They came from everywhere –including Tennessee, Arkansas, Nevada, Iowa, Alabama and Oregon.  

Once again, similar to the response after the 9/11 attacks, our nation united as one in the face of heartbreaking circumstances. These workers and volunteers were not full of despair, but rather brimming with hope. They spoke not of a decimated coastline, but of a region that was picking up the pieces and rising.

Standing on the memorial plaza, visitor services hosts like myself are reminded of the thousands of families that once again spent Thanksgiving without a loved one. The empty voids where the towers once stood, and the countless tributes left in honor of those who perished on 9/11, leads us to reflect on all that is absent, while the changing skyline serves as a reminder of our resiliency. This holiday season is a time for us to give thanks for all of those who continue to make tremendous sacrifices to keep us safe and help us rebuild.

By Lucie M. Iuzzolino, Visitor Services Host for the 9/11 Memorial

Staff photographer Amy Dreher snaps a lot of pictures at the World Trade Center site, documenting the construction progress. Amy also trains her lens on the smaller pieces that may be overlooked with a project of this magnitude. Through “The Lens: Viewing the 9/11 Memorial,” readers of The MEMO blog can share some of the unique vantage points captured by Amy.

Missing you:  Since opening in September, heartfelt mementos have adorned the 9/11 Memorial at the World Trade Center site. Some of the tributes left for victims, such as the one seen above, shows lost loved ones will be forever remembered as families gather for the holidays. 

By 9/11 Memorial Staff