The Tunnel to Towers Steel Across America tour concluded its more than 38 stops with a final appearance at MetLife Stadium for a New York Giants game this week.
The tour featured a 21-foot steel beam from the South Tower of the World Trade Center. Starting in May, the tour traveled from the East Coast across the U.S. and then went to the New York City area to mark the 25th anniversary of 9/11 before Sunday’s last stop.
The 16,900-pound piece of steel – recovered from Ground Zero in the days after the attacks by first responders who rushed to the site – has since become a symbol of the nearly 3,000 civilians, firefighters, police officers, emergency workers and military personnel who died that day.
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“For the past four months, communities across the country have welcomed this sacred piece of American history with incredible emotion,” Tunnel to Towers Chairman and CEO Frank Siller said in a press release. “Watching people stand in front of that steel, hugging it, praying over it, weeping, reminds me every single day of why we do this work.”
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An August ceremony in Indianapolis included a color guard, a pipes and drums procession, the national anthem performed by the Voices of the Indianapolis Fire Department and an invocation from Indianapolis Fire Department Chaplain Mike Gatliff.
Indianapolis Fire Division Chief Tom Neal and Timothy Winslow, a retired major general and executive director of the Indiana War Memorial and Museum, also addressed the crowd about the connection between the city’s first responders, veterans and the legacy of 9/11.
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“Bringing this steel to Indianapolis, and to a museum that has stood for over a century as a tribute to American sacrifice, is deeply moving,” FDNY Lt. Jack Kielty, a Tunnel to Towers board member, said. “Indiana veterans and first responders understand what it means to serve.”
The event also highlighted Indiana’s own connection to the attacks. Nine Hoosiers died on Sept. 11, while Indianapolis Task Force One sent rescuers to Ground Zero. Six members of the team later died from illnesses linked to their work in the toxic environment, according to the Indiana War Memorial.
Scott Nokes, a Marine Corps veteran and Tunnel to Towers recipient, spoke to attendees about the significance of allowing people to see the steel in person.
“Out of the 2,977 lives that were lost, there’s over 1,000 bodies that were never recovered specifically from Ground Zero in New York,” Nokes said. “Their souls are in that steel, and if you touch it, you feel it.”
On the 25th anniversary of 9/11, Frank Siller and his family honored his late brother Stephen Siller — a heroic 34-year-old husband, father and firefighter who, after hearing about the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attack, loaded himself down with gear, and traversed through the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel on foot heading to the Twin Towers, and ultimately giving his life — by retracing the man’s steps.
“This morning’s walk through the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel was part of the conclusion of Steel Across America, a journey that began four-and-a-half months ago and carried a 21-foot, 16,900-pound World Trade Center steel beam more than 10,500 miles through nearly 40 stops across the country and back, stopping in more than 21 states,” a statement from Tunnel to Towers said. “For over four months, the steel has been a gathering place for communities to remember the events of September 11th, to honor first responders and veterans, and to ensure that a new generation understands the significance of what happened 25 years ago.”
