Community Corner
Second Alarmers Rescue Squad Brings 9/11 Beam to Whitpain for Remembrance
SARS is 'lucky' to receive a World Trade Center beam that will be incorporated into a monument for dedication on the 10th anniversary of 9/11.
Amid blaring emergency vehicles and a paramedic playing the bagpipes, a piece of American history rolled into Whitpain Wednesday to help residents “Never Forget.”
A 3,100-pound steel beam from the World Trade Center (WTC) was picked up by Second Alarmers Rescue Squad (SARS) personnel from a JFK International Airport hangar. Enrico Roman Inc. provided a truck and trailer that hauled the 12.5-foot beam to the .
Once off the turnpike, the beam was escorted by local police and fire departments. On Jolly Road, “a hundred Henkels & McCoy employees waved flags” as the beam rolled past them, said SARS President William Crielly. He said an old man wearing a straw hat removed it and placed it over his heart. Cars pulled aside to let the beam and its escorts pass, he said.
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As the procession pulled onto Anvil Drive near , the vehicles passed under a 50x15 flag suspended between two ladder trucks.
Heather Moser said she and her family came home early from the shore to witness the arrival of the beam. She remembers a co-worker who was at the WTC when it was attacked. He was able to get out of the building and walked to Brooklyn so he could try to get home to New Jersey, she said.
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During a welcoming ceremony, SARS Executive Director Jamie Haddon said only 1,100 WTC artifacts for public displays and memorials will be distributed worldwide. He said SARS was "lucky"; it was one of very few EMS companies to receive an artifact.
Haddon remembered John Kulick, a Whitpain Township career firefighter who enlisted in the National Guard Reserves after the 9/11 attacks, and was killed in Iraq.
Haddon also remembered the 2,752 victims who died on 9/11, including 343 New York firefighters, 60 police officers and 41 EMS technicians.
State Sen. John Rafferty (R-44), state Rep. Kate Harper (R-61), state Rep. Josh Shapiro (D-153) and Whitpain Supervisor Chairman Joseph J. Palmer remembered the sacrifice of emergency responders running toward the collapsing Twin Towers, and the courage of police, fire and EMS workers who bravely serve the community.
The beam will be displayed for a week outside the township building. It will be incorporated into a monument that will be dedicated on 9/11’s 10th anniversary this September. It will be placed in a memorial garden near the future site of SARS Whitpain Emergency Medical facility. Donations of materials, labor and cash are sought for the monument at www.SARS.org.