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Mostly Cloudy Valley Stream gets WTC relic
Steel beam brought to village for 10th anniversary of terrorist attacks
See more photos from the the steel delivery here.
Valley Stream resident George Schuchman gazed with pride at a steel beam from the World Trade Center wreckage brought to Hendrickson Park on Tuesday. “I’m proud that the village of Valley Stream has a piece of the World Trade Center,” he said.
Dozens of residents gathered at the village’s Sept. 11 memorial garden at the park, where Mayor Ed Fare and village officials presented the steel from the twin towers after a crew transported it from John F. Kennedy International Airport, escorted by members of the Valley Stream Fire Department. It will be installed permanently at the village’s Sept. 11 memorial.
Shortly before 10:30 a.m., officials loaded the 15-foot-long, 3,350-pound steel beam onto a village truck at JFK’s Hangar 17. Several members of the village’s Fire Department draped an American flag over it.
Mike Field, a member of the village’s highway and fire departments, recalled working for the New York City Emergency Medical Services System on Sept. 11. He was in the fifth ambulance to arrive on the scene, he said. “The building was coming down, and people were screaming and crying,” Field said. “…I feel mixed emotions with the village getting the steel.”
Honorary Chief George Fulkerson said he saw the smoke rising from the fallen towers while he was on duty at Belmont Park that day. And on Tuesday, members of Engine Company No. 3 drove their truck, the Pride of Gibson, in honor of fallen comrade Peter Martin, a former member of the company and a member of FDNY Rescue Company No. 2 who died in the attacks.
The five-car procession made its way from JFK down South Conduit Avenue in Queens to Sunrise Highway, passing beneath an American flag hoisted by the Malverne Fire Department outside Sunrise Multiplex Cinemas. Another arch went up near the village Fire Department headquarters on Rockaway Parkway. Onlookers raised flags, bowed their heads and saluted while watching the procession.
Tears filled the eyes of some residents who were seeing the beam for the first time. “It’s kind of difficult to see it,” said Mildred Leudesdorff, a resident of 37 years. “It’s very emotional.”
