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Pieces of the past

Artifacts from the 9/11 terrorist attacks are spread throughout the world, including around the Philly region.
The official Pennsylvania memorial to the victims of 9/11 in Lower Makefield Township features the names of all those killed in the attacks etched in glass, with special recognition of the 58 victims from Pennsylvania, including 18 Bucks County residents.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer

After Sept. 11, 2001, thousands of rusted pieces of twisted steel from the Twin Towers, damaged emergency vehicles, signs, clothing and other relics were disseminated to all 50 states and to the far reaches of the world. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey began a program to distribute them to more than 2,000 fire and police departments, museums, municipalities and organizations to remember the nearly 3,000 people who died that day.

There are 154 artifact pieces in New Jersey towns, 82 in Pennsylvania. In the weeks leading up to Sept. 11 this year, we visited some of those towns and spoke with the people who live there.

Shanksville, Pa.

A cross made of World Trade Center steel from the North Tower is mounted outside the Shanksville Volunteer Fire Company. They were the first firefighters to respond when United Flight 93 crashed nearby, and drove food, coffee and firewood up to the site three times each night in the first days of the investigation.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
Dan Wolf is redoing his grandfather’s cabin on Indian Lake, where debris from Flight 93 washed up. He hopes it becomes a place for his brothers to gather following the deaths of their parents a few years ago.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer

“There’s obviously been a lot of dramatic moments in the past few years. I will say that the Shanksville area and the cabin, it represents to me a period of time in my life before things got real, before the harsh realities of adulthood came into play. Those trips we used to take up to the cabin before my grandfather passed away were some of the greatest of my life.”

— Dan Wolf, 33

Lehigh Valley International Airport

“Victorii Rebuild” in Bethlehem was carved by Florida artist Sandra Priest from a 4-foot-thick piece of the underground steel-reinforced concrete wall that still protects the foundation of the 16-acre World Trade Center site from Hudson River groundwater seepage. The wall survived the attacks on 9/11, and pieces of it were removed later to make room for the new PATH station that now sits beneath the rebuilt center.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
TSA worker Hector Rivera Jr., 47, screens passengers departing Lehigh Valley International Airport. He worked for a security contractor there, then joined the Transportation Security Administration when it was founded after 9/11.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer

“I’m proud of what I do. Because if we would’ve had some of these things in place maybe that might not have happened. I can’t guarantee that, but I wish it was like that back then. ... Most of the people like what we do. Some — maybe 1% — get upset. Most people look at the bigger picture. If I’m getting on a plane with my family, I want everything done that needs to be done.”

— Hector Rivera Jr., 47

Haddon Township, N.J.

The township’s memorial is made of three parts. The centerpiece is a piece of steel recovered from the World Trade Center, bridged across two brick pillars reminiscent of the Twin Towers. It is joined by a piece of limestone from the Pentagon and a stone from Shanksville.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
Emily Stout works in her real estate storefront office a block away from the memorial at Westmont Fire Company No. 1.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer

“I put the flag up during the Trump and Biden elections to support America. Keep it strong. It wasn’t political, just something that stands for the country. Then of course if you stand for the country and you have beliefs, then it is political because you want to choose the president that is gonna protect us the most.”

— Emily Stout

Absecon, N.J.

Granite reproductions of the World Trade Center in Heritage Park showcase a 16-foot I-beam from the 39th floor of the South Tower as well as memorial markers for the victims in Shanksville and at the Pentagon.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
Amjad Rehman, of nearby Galloway Township, goes out to dinner with his wife, Neelamm, and sons, Ali and Sammad. Rehman moved to New Jersey from Pakistan as a child. Ali, 30, was in fifth grade on 9/11 and suffered anti-Muslim taunting from classmates.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer

“...The next day [after 9/11] everyone was blaming [Osama] bin Laden. We knew it was terrorists. We heard on the news some Muslims here were attacked. Some Sikh people were attacked because they looked like bin Laden. … If you see a picture of him, he has a long beard and he has a turban. One of our friends, he is Sikh, he got attacked. They are not Muslim, but they have the same attire.

“A lot of my neighbors — my white American and Black friends — they called me and all said, ‘If you have any concern about safety, come to my house.’ That was very nice of them. But I did not have any concerns.” — Amjad Rehman

“They called me brutal names, try to attack me. But the teacher would stand there and listen and let it go. Unfortunately, a lot of teachers felt the same sentiment as the students felt. They’re like, ‘Yeah, this Muslim kid, their families are all terrorists. They probably support terrorism.’”

“But now I notice with social media … people are sharing more, so people are getting the message. Back then, people would learn from what their parents say. Now with technology, everyone is getting the knowledge firsthand. That’s how it should be. I am very optimistic that the world is heading to a better place.”

— Ali Rehman

Mantua, N.J.

A 3-foot World Trade Center steel I-beam with a hole ripped through it in Chestnut Branch Park’s Place of Reflection.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
A quarter-mile walk from the parking lot along a tree-lined path leads to Chestnut Branch Park’s Place of Reflection, dedicated to three Gloucester County residents who lost their lives on 9/11.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
Pastor Phil Moser at Fellowship Bible Church in nearby Mullica Hill. Ten years after 9/11, the church also served victims of Hurricane Sandy, and this month helped neighbors clean up after tornadoes ravaged their community.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer

“When we came into our church facility for the first time it was Sunday, Sept. 2, 2001. We didn't realize God was kind of opening the door for us to be the new church on the block, that would be open when people were in need because of the trauma and experience of 9/11. That first Sunday after 9/11, we had 200 people come. People see that people’s life as they know it is interrupted, their reality is interrupted, and for the first time they’re looking outside themselves for help. And in this situation they were calling out to God for help.”

— Pastor Phil Moser

Coatesville, Pa.

One of the steel supports from the North Tower is displayed outside the National Iron & Steel Heritage Museum. Originally made at Lukens Steel before construction began on the World Trade Center in 1966, it helped to support the first nine floors of the Twin Towers. A portion of these columns was the only structure left standing when the towers collapsed on 9/11.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
Waleah Britt, 39, pauses outside a salon after her daughter Janiyah got her back-to-school hair styled in downtown Coatesville.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer

“You got Lukens Steel right here. They made all the steel. The mill still runs us. It runs Coatesville.”

— Waleah Britt, 39

King of Prussia

Next to the King of Prussia Volunteer Fire Company Station 47, and across from the mall, the 9/11 memorial features two World Trade Center steel I-beams and design elements that represent all four doomed flights on 9/11.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
Engaged couple Shawn Harrison II and Kaitlyn Buckley before dinner at Morton’s at the King of Prussia Mall, across the street from the 9/11 memorial.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer

“I was listening to NPR, driving in my car from my parents’ [in York County] back to Philly, and I literally cried in the car. I just bawled my eyes out by myself in my car, listening to the voice messages the people on the plane [Flight 93] left for their loved ones.”

— Kaitlyn Buckley

“Having a lot of my immediate family living in North Jersey, it’s hard. It’s still something you think about and get emotional about, even to this day.

— Shawn Harrison

“When we first moved into the place that we live in at the moment, carved into our door, but it’s painted over, it said ‘Remember 9/11′ and it has the Twin Towers.

— Buckley

“We see it every day. We think about it every day. We pray for the people. Our thoughts and prayers are with all people. Black, white, Spanish, Jewish, Christian, Muslim. All lives were lost.” — Harrison

Medford Lakes, N.J.

A pentagon-shaped concrete pedestal holds a granite monument topped with a piece of steel from the North Tower surrounded by a water feature in Leon E. Todd Memorial Park.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
Dan Kiernan, 54, daughter Sydney, 16, and goldendoodle Oskar.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer

“America’s response [after 9/11] was pretty good. I’ve traveled around the world, and I tend to be more of a positive person. For me it’s pretty negative energy, so I don’t worry.”

— Dan Kiernan, 54

“I worry! It's normal to me now, the lines and everything. I’m a worrier, so I definitely think about things like safety on planes. It definitely comes to mind when I get on a plane, because we’re taught from when we’re very little about 9/11. So you never know what’s gonna happen and there will always be people that are unhappy in the world.” — Sydney Kiernan, 16

Atlantic City, N.J.

The Saracini-O’Neill 9/11 Memorial on the Boardwalk at Jackson Avenue, on the border of Atlantic City and Ventnor. The memorial is dedicated to Atlantic City natives Victor John Saracini and John P. O’Neill.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
Tom Harris, walking with his wife, Carol, after dinner salutes the flag after stopping at the Saracini-O’Neill 9/11 Memorial.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer

“I salute the flag. it’s a thing I do. Who doesn’t?”

— Tom Harris

Brooklawn, N.J.

The township’s 9/11 Memorial and Monument of the Delaware Valley features a Pentagon-shaped base supporting a 9-foot-11 piece of World Trade Center steel. It is framed by two stone pedestals supporting artifacts from Shanksville and the Pentagon.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
Miles Jesuncosky outside his home in Brooklawn, N.J., which is around the corner from the memorial.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer

“We just moved here. My brother is in the Coast Guard, so this shows my support. The flagpole was here, and that was one of the reasons I bought the house. And we’ll leave it up as long as I live here. I don’t see the flag as political. I just love this country.”

— Miles Jesuncosky

Berwick, Pa.

Boy Scout Colin Hill built a memorial from steel remnants of the World Trade Center for his Eagle Scout project. Two 12-foot beams made from 350 pounds of twisted metal from the South Tower are at the Reliance Fire Company No. 1.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
Heather Schon shops at the Weis Markets grocery store in Bloomsburg, Pa., with her 2-year-old son, Blaise.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer

“My husband and I were in the Merchant Marine. We traveled around the world. Met in Guam, but now we’re back in his small town. We sailed past the site [World Trade Center] all the time. We both went to school [the United States Merchant Marine Academy] on Long Island, and our school was very instrumental in the aid. And there were many Merchant Marine tugboats and passenger vessels that helped in the rescue and recovery. In the years since, I am grateful when I see tragedy or losses, or medical diagnoses. I had a friend from Kings Point [home of the academy] who just recently passed away. Forty years old. She battled metastatic cancer for five years. It’s just trying to be grateful and happy every day. Because nothing is guaranteed.”

Heather Schon

Lower Makefield Township, Pa.

The official Pennsylvania memorial to the victims of 9/11 in Bucks County.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
Steve Murphy practices volleyball with son Stevie, 11, in one of the fields at 62-acre Memorial Park in Lower Makefield Township.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer

“9/11 to me is their [his son] version of what Pearl Harbor was to me. I wasn't alive for Pearl Harbor, but of course we learned all about it in school all the time. We always remembered the date. When the day rolled around we always talked about it in school. I’d hear my parents talk about it because they were alive during it. But Pearl Harbor didn’t have the same impact for me.

When we come here we certainly remind them of why this park was created. And there will be something that comes along for them that they will always remember. And their children will study it in school.”

— Steve Murphy

The official Pennsylvania memorial to the victims of 9/11 features the names of all 2,973 people killed in the attacks, with special recognition of the state’s 58 victims, including 18 from Bucks County. Among them were nine residents of Lower Makefield.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer

Staff Contributors

Reporting: Tom Gralish

Editing: Diane Mastrull

Visuals: Tom Gralish, Rachel Molenda

Digital Production: Rachel Molenda, Annie Bryan, Patricia Madej

Copy Editing & Print: Roslyn Rudolph, Lidija Dorjkhand