BREWER, Maine — A mangled 6-foot steel beam taken from the wreckage of the doomed twin towers in New York City will be on public display Tuesday, the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks, according to Brewer Fire Chief Gary Parent.
The steel beam —- housed in the Brewer Public Safety Museum at the Brewer Public Safety Building — once provided structural support for the World Trade Center and now provides inspirational support for local firefighters, police, ambulance crews and residents who remember those who lost their lives on Sept. 11, 2001.
“In remembrance of 9/11, the Brewer Public Safety Museum will be open between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.” for those who want to pay tribute, Parent said, noting that he has seen his firefighters and members of the public touching the memorial beam when passing by it. “We’ll have somebody in the museum the entire day if people want to come by and look at the steel.”
Firefighters from all over Maine — including Brewer — volunteered to go to New York City after the twin towers fell, but the National Association of Firefighters sent out a message that put them in a holding pattern because of the influx of volunteers.
The Brewer Public Safety Building has three pieces of the World Trade Center’s twin towers on display to honor all who lost their lives in the Sept. 11 attacks.
The largest World Trade Center relic on display in Brewer is an 18-foot-long section of a steel beam that still bears the yellow stenciled lettering it had when it was installed during the towers’ construction in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It is displayed in the fire department’s truck bay.
The second piece, part of the towers’ aluminum exterior, is displayed on the police department side of the complex, and the third piece in housed in the museum.
“They can look at it and they can touch it,” Parent said of the historic steel in February during the museum’s grand opening.
Have You Forgotten?
Darryl Worley
I hear people saying we don’t need this war
But, I say there’s some things worth fighting for
What about our freedom and this piece of ground
We didn’t get to keep ’em by backing down
They say we don’t realize the mess we’re getting in
Before you start your preaching let me ask you this my friend
Have you forgotten how it felt that day?
To see your homeland under fire
And her people blown away
Have you forgotten when those towers fell?
We had neighbors still inside going thru a living hell
And you say we shouldn’t worry ’bout bin Laden
Have you forgotten?
They took all the footage off my T.V.
Said it’s too disturbing for you and me
It’ll just breed anger that’s what the experts say
If it was up to me I’d show it everyday
Some say this country’s just out looking for a fight
Well, after 9/11 man I’d have to say that’s right
Have you forgotten how it felt that day?
To see your homeland under fire
And her people blown away
Have you forgotten when those towers fell?
We had neighbors still inside going thru a living hell
And we vowed to get the one’s behind bin Laden
Have you forgotten?
I’ve been there with the soldiers
Who’ve gone away to war
And you can bet that they remember
Just what they’re fighting for
Have you forgotten all the people killed?
Yeah, some went down like heroes in that Pennsylvania field
Have you forgotten about our Pentagon?
All the loved ones that we lost and those left to carry on
Don’t you tell me not to worry about bin Laden
Have you forgotten?
Have you forgotten?
Have you forgotten?
Remember that it is a day for mourning those who were killed by terrorists originating from the Middle East–it seems that too many people are subscribing to another view and are forgetting that September 11, 2001 was an attack against America and her people.