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The 14-foot hunk of twisted metal has proved capable of making grown men, arguably some of the metro’s bravest, swell with emotion. It ought to affect everyone living here that way. For more than a year, an ad hoc group of firemen, architects, landscapers and businessmen — a range of good-hearted people — has worked with the piece to create what should become one of the region’s most respected memorials.
The 5,600-pound piece of metal is a beam from the remains of the World Trade Center. On Tuesday, the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, a solemn ceremony will be held to dedicate the first phase of the project at the Overland Park Fire Training Center.
Tuesday, Sept 11, 2012 9/11 Memorial Dedicated in Overland Park, KS
The nation today will commemorate the 11th anniversary of the Sept 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Bells will toll, victims’ names will be read and moments of silence will be observed in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C. And in Overland Park, a unique memorial – a 14-foot, 5,600-pound beam from the World Trade Center – will be dedicated. Every Sept. 11, its designers say, sunlight will shine through a hole in the beam and glide slowly across etched metal plates to illuminate details about the attacks.
Overland Park Fire Chief Bryan Dehner started the ceremony in front of a huge piece of the World Trade Center.
OverlandPark Firefighter Craig Robinson rang a bell for each of four important moments in the disaster.
A dedication ceremony for a 911 memorial was held Tuesday morning at the Overland Park Fire Department Training Center, 12401 Hemlock, in Overland Park. A large part of the World Trade Center steel was part of the memorial. As the sun rose, sunlight shown through a small hole at the top to follow a timeline on a nearby structure. Over 200 attendees watched the structure as the sun rose over the training center.
By Mary Sanchez, excerpted from The Kansas City Star.
