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Jack's Journal

Jack’s Journal: 9/11 Memorial

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Like any memory, it sits and waits for you to revisit it.

In Grand Traverse County, behind the Metro Fire administration building is the 9/11 memorial.

It’s a 3,100 pound I-beam from the Twin Towers.

Three firefighters were dispatched to New York to pick it up in the spring of 2011, and the memory was revisited.

“A lot of tears were shed, still after that many years. We had a guy come up and just thank us for remembering and very thankful we were taking this back to Traverse City,” said firefighter Scott Almond.

The trio carried it back to its new home where it was met with reverence and honor, eventually being set in an upright position with its crooked bend tilting slightly towards New York as a nod to its journey.

The bricks of the walkway bears the names of the 343 firefighters who were lost that day. But the 344th brick, off by itself, is not a firefighter but that of a former Traverse City resident, 26-year-old Brock Safronoff, who was a one month newlywed working on the 96th floor of the North Tower when the plane hit.

I find it interesting that the I-beam given for the Traverse City memorial is from the North Tower. I don’t think it’s a coincidence. The memorial is accessible 24 hours a day. Benches are available if you want to sit and remember.

I always find it amazing that this piece of steel can invoke such emotion but it does.

“Yes, and when you walk up, I haven’t seen it in quite a while, but walking back up to it and seeing how twisted and bent a 16 inch I-beam is. The amount of heat that was there to bend that much steel was amazing,” explained Almond.

Every day the events of that September morning get farther away, but this monument, this piece of steel, remains to remember.

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