52.0°,
Light Rain Two tons of painful memories
World Trade Center steel beams on their way to Lynbrook
Residents of Lynbrook and surrounding areas bowed their heads, waved flags or both as two pieces of steel from the World Trade Center towers made their way from John F. Kennedy International Airport to Oceanside Iron & Steel Supply on April 7, escorted by the Fire Riders and Patriot Guard Riders motorcycle organizations of New York and the Lynbrook police and fire departments.
Iron & Steel Supply owner Nick Vuotto and his son, Michael, donated their time — and their trucks — for the caravan that transported the one-ton beams to their warehouse to be cleaned and stored for what is expected to be about a month. Their eventual destination is Lynbrook’s Sept. 11 Memorial on Village Hall grounds.
Though the ruins of Sept. 11, 2001, have long since been cleared, the memory of that day remains strong. “I’m personally connected to 9/11,” said Lynbrook Deputy Mayor Alan Beach. “I have a piece of my life down there.” Beach was a responder after the attacks, and helped clean up the aftermath. “I was down there working in the pit,” he recalled. “ … [I]t was the worst time and the best time because people were so giving and helping.”
In 2009, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey announced that parts of the World Trade Center would be made available to community groups. The steel was collected in a JFK hangar, according to the Port Authority’s website, and some pieces of the wreckage were set aside for the National Sept. 11 Memorial Foundation. The Port Authority donated the beams to Lynbrook, which was one of several municipalities to sign a contract with the authority to put the steel on public display.
Beach said he was thrilled when he found out that it was available. He submitted paperwork last year to get the beams, asking for two pieces of steel that were of equal weight.
“Everyone I tell about this happening gets emotional and excited,” Beach said the day before the beams were trucked to Oceanside. “Tomorrow should be a very happy day and make people very proud that we can bring this and put them in the village.”
