Steel beam from World Trade Center tours cities across U.S.

WASHINGTON (Gray DC) - A steel beam recovered from the rubble of the Twin Towers after their collapse on September 11, 2001, is being transported to cities and towns across the country this year.

The tour is organized by the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, a non-profit based in New York.

“The goal is simple, for as many Americans as possible to remember the sacrifice that was made on September 11, 2001 and the sacrifice that’s been made ever since,” said Frank Siller, of the Tunnel to Towers Foundation.

Siller founded the organization to honor his brother, Steven Siller, a New York City firefighter.

“We just wanted to honor my little brother Steven, a New York City firefighter who ran through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel with 60 pounds of fire gear on his back that day to get there,” Frank Siller said. “We just wanted to do small acts of kindness, not anything grandiose, and we just wanted to honor him and honor all those first responders who perished that day.”

The foundation raises money through an annual 5K race and pays off mortgages for first responders who lost their lives in the line of duty or from 9/11-related illness, leaving behind young children.

This year, the foundation is bringing the steel beam to post offices, baseball games and town squares across the country. Stops included Sarasota, Fla.; Texarkana, Texas; Baton Rouge, La.; Mobile, Ala.; and other cities, both small and large.

“We want young kids to see what a piece of steel is from Ground Zero in person and to know that two building came down that was 110 stories each and a lot of bodies were never recovered and now you know why when you see this steel,” Siller said.

At each stop, people have a chance to see the beam, which measures 21 feet long and weighs almost 17,000 pounds.

Attendees Christine Gardner and Rebecca Norrod described seeing the beam.

“I’m sorry this is so hard to articulate. This is so powerful. I’m so glad for Tunnel to Towers keeping the remembrance alive and bringing the steel, so many people have forgotten,” they said.

The tour stopped in Washington Tuesday, visiting the White House. During a Tuesday morning event, President Donald Trump noted, “This battered piece of steel here today on the Ellipse is a reminder that America is blessed with a strength no fire can consume, no evil can conquer, and no terror can destroy.”