MOUNT RUSHMORE NATIONAL MEMORIAL – People lined up to get a close look at and touch the 21-foot, 16,900-pound steel beam in the parking lot of the Sculptor’s Studio at Mount Rushmore National Memorial Tuesday morning.
The beam was a piece of the South Tower of the World Trade Center recovered after 9/11 – a reminder of that tragic day 25 years ago.
“This is the first time in the history of the FDNY (Fire Department New York) that we weren’t able to recover our members because more than half the people were never found,” retired New York City firefighter Joseph LaPointe said. “That’s what makes this steel so sacred.”
The Tunnels to Tower Foundation brought the beam to South Dakota as part of the Steel Across America tour – a 35-plus stop, 21-state, 10,000-mile road trip across America as a way to commemorate the 25th anniversary of 9/11.
“We are never going to be able to forget the tragedy of that day, we are never going to be able to move past it,” said Stephen Siller, Jr., Program Manager, Tunnels to Towers Foundation. “But now we’re in a place we can use that pain as a motivation for good with the work we do here at the Foundation.”
The Tunnel to Towers Foundation carries out its mission to “do good” by providing mortgage-free homes to Gold Star and fallen first responder families with young children and by building specially adapted smart homes for catastrophically injured veterans and first responders.
On Sept. 11, 2001, Stephen Siller’s father was off duty but heard the call that one of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centers had been struck by an airplane. Siller said his father went to his Brooklyn squad, finding them already gone, he got his own gear and drove to the World Trade Center. When traffic came to a gridlock, he carried his gear two miles to the South Tower to help. He lost his life that day.
“His actions on that day inspired the Tunnel to Towers Foundation,” Siller said. “Who he is, is ingrained in that steel so for the Foundation to be traveling the country with it giving everywhere outside of New York the opportunity to mourn Sept. 11 has been so powerful.”
The Tour started May 2 in Lower Manhattan, New York City and on Sept. 11, will complete its trip in Brooklyn, NY, at Ground Zero.
