GREENVILLE NEWS: "Community 9/11 Memorial in Progress"

By Katie Jones
Greater Greer News

Brick Masons Working on Construction of BSFD 9/11 Memorial Plaza
(PHOTO CREDIT: CrescentMag.com)

It’s been a long journey, but the 9-11 memorial at the Boiling Springs Fire District is coming to fruition. The department broke ground in early April.

The memorial, scheduled to be dedicated July 4, will give the community a place to remember and reflect on events of 9-11.

“Eleven years ago, we lost a bunch of people, not only out of the fire service and the police service, but a lot of American citizens,” said Bill Sizemore, operations chief. “We don’t want to forget. We want the people who ride up and down Pelham Road, which is a lot, the people of our community to be able to stop and look and touch something that will remind us.”

Nearly 3,000 people died, the vast majority at the World Trade Center Twin Towers in New York City, when al-Qaeda terrorists hijack four airliners on Sept. 11, 2001. Two crashed into the World Trade Center, one crashed into the Pentagon, and the fourth crashed in a Pennyslvania field, believed to have been forced down when passengers attacked the terrorists. The target was thought to be the U.S. Capitol or the White House.

The Boiling Springs chief applied to get the nearly 7-foot, 1,361-pound steel beam, a piece of one of the Twin Towers, said Jeff Nelson, fire marshal. A committee from the fire district picked it up about a year ago from a hangar at the John F. Kennedy International Airport, he said.

They transported it back in the back of an F-250 pickup truck, draped in an American flag, said Jim Hayes, a volunteer firefighter.

“We were just excited about it and now that it’s here we can’t wait for the memorial to be built,” Hayes said. “It should be pretty awesome, be something the entire community can come out and share.”

The department has been raising money for the memorial for almost a year, Sizemore said.

“It just started clicking,” he said. “People started showing an interest in getting involved, that’s what’s making it happen.”

Nelson said donations can still be made at BB&T into the BSFD/WTC account.

The memorial will mean something different to everyone, Nelson said.

To Nelson, who has been in fire service for almost 30 years, the memorial will honor the brothers he lost in the tragedy.

“It’s like a big brotherhood,” he said of firefighters. “It’s not just here in Greenville or Greenville County or in South Carolina. No matter where you go, you’re part of the brotherhood. To see something like that happen to those guys, it’s just like family members to me.”

The beam sat in front of the fire station on Pelham Road for the last year, Sizemore said, and people often stopped to see it.

“Some people will lay their hands on it. Some people won’t even get near it, touch it. It’s amazing what that piece of steel brings back in different people,” he said. “I think it’s going to be a great addition to our community for a long time to come.”