Gig Harbor To Open City Sept. 11 Memorial

From Gig Harbor Fire and Medic One:

GIG HARBOR, WA - In the year 2009, a journey began for the Gig Harbor Fire Department. The hope of procuring a piece of history. A piece of steel. An artifact from the World Trade Center that collapsed during a terrorist attack on 9/11/2001. Sixteen years after that tragic event, the founders of the Gig Harbor 911 Memorial Project and volunteers will dedicate the “911 Memorial Garden” at Gig Harbor Fire & Medic One’s Headquarters building on Bujacich Road on Sept. 11, 2017 at 10 a.m.

With the project theme being “Never Forget”, a group of firefighters set out in 2011 on a cross country mission. That mission was to bring back to Gig Harbor a piece of memorial steel to serve as a symbol of the day that changed our nation forever. Since then, donors and volunteers have committed countless hours to the design and construction of the garden that will house the rusted beam artifact.

The “911 Memorial Garden” provides an opportunity in Gig Harbor to pay tribute to those who died on 9/11, to the acts of bravery that brought us together as a nation, and to those who put themselves in harm’s way in the service of others. This treasured piece of steel salvaged from one of the World Trade Center’s twin towers now has a permanent home not just in landscape but in the hearts of our community as well.

Listed are the generous donors who gave their time, money and services to this lasting legacy:
IAFF Local 3390, Gig Harbor Firefighters’ Association, 911 group, Dean Olive Concrete, Miles Sand & Gravel, Mutual Materials, Rainier Electric, Purdy Topsoil, Pape & Sons, United Rentals, Interwest Metals, Rosedale Gardens, and Coverall Stone.

Image via Mark Lennihan/Associated Press