OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — Monday marks the 22nd anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
It’s a day many in this country strive to "never forget." In 2001, hijackers took control of four different planes headed from the east to west. The World Trade Center towers in New York were struck and fell. There was also an attack on the Pentagon and the crash of Flight 93 in Pennsylvania. Nearly 3,000 people died on this day.
In Overland Park, the memory of this day lives on through a memorial site that holds a 14-foot, 2.5-ton piece of steel from the World Trade Center.
“It really bears the scars of what happened that day, if you walk up to the steel, run your hand across it, there are pit marks in it, tear marks in it, places where it was cut to be pulled from the debris. It’s a very, very impressive piece,” the Overland Park Fire Department’s Jason Rhodes said.
At the end of the investigation of 9/11, the investigating parties in New York and New Jersey made the pieces of steel available to the public for memorial use.
Firefighter Trevor Miller and Captain Paul Bishoff wrote an application for a piece of steel in 2011 and won it.
But New York City couldn’t help them get the pieces to Overland Park since it was post-recession and they didn’t have financial resources to help out.
Rhodes had an idea.
“I was sitting at a ball game, one of my boy’s ball games, talking to another dad talking about this quandary we were in, and he said, ‘Well I work for a trucking company, let me see what I can do,’ and so thus began the whole journey of this memorial,” he said.
The journey succeeded, he said.
“When we brought it into town, people literally lined the streets to see it go by, it was very moving,” he said.
An architect volunteered, helping make the steel piece what it is today. But there’s even more to the memorial site, thanks to the community’s donations.
The site also features four education panels with text of details from that day, telling the story of that flight. The artifact is lined up as a sun dial on 9/11, so a shaft of light comes through a hole at the top and hits it at the times the flights went down.
It gives visitors a firsthand look at the day’s communications.
“Communications were a big problem that day, and from that has been born more regional communications, an ability to talk cross-channels with other agencies,” Rhodes said.
There’s also the weeping wall, where a local artist melted steel. The inspiration was people coming out of debris clouds with white faces and tear trails down their faces on 9/11.
Recently added, two flooring tiles from the World Trade Center are at each entrance. Finally, the victims panel holds the almost 3,000 names of people who died.
“I know that’s inspired a lot of young people to consider careers in emergency services. We have people working here now that were probably inspired to become firefighters because of that event,” Rhodes said.
It’s all part of the nation’s vow to never forget.
“Part of the vow we make as emergency responders is to never forget, so that’s what we do,” he said.
A memorial ceremony to never forget is from 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. at the Overland Park Fire Department. It will also be livestreamed.
