A piece of the Twin Towers is now part of a permanent memorial in DeKalb, in front of the headquarters of the county’s police and fire department.
It is a constant reminder of the 343 New York City Firefighters, 23 New York City Police Officers, and 37 Port Authority Police Officers killed by Radical Islamic Al-Qaeda terrorists on September 11, 2001.
Xavier, a DeKalb County resident saying a prayer at the Memorial for the families of all those lost 20 years ago, tells 95.5 WSB’s Robyn Walensky, “We all need to remember and reflect and keep this on our minds day in and day out.”
>>Listen to 95.5 WSB Reporter Robyn Walensky’s full on-air report below.
There are four sobering monuments that look like tombstones marked with the flight numbers of the airplanes hijacked by the terrorists. Flight 11 and Flight 175 hijacked and flown into the Twin Towers like missiles. Flight 77 hijacked and flown into the Pentagon, and Flight 93, which crashed in a field in Shanksville, Pa. after passengers who knew their fate decided to storm the cockpit. Passenger Todd Beamer heard saying, “Let’s roll.”
These facts are documented on plaques surrounding the now-rusted iron beam from the Twin Towers, which is the focal point of the Memorial. Behind it, a large steel sculpture of a Phoenix rising from the ashes, symbolizing America’s resolve to move forward after the terrorist attack.
Justin, another DeKalb County resident, tells 95.5 WSB that he was in college at St. Johns University in New York and lost friends on 9-11 who went down to lower Manhattan to help, but got killed in the collapse: “Twenty years, we still remember, I was in college then and I was on my way to class, and I just remember that day like it was yesterday and I remember turning on the TV and seeing America was being attacked.”
He adds that he is worried now, as he believes terrorists could strike here in the U.S. again: “Terrorism can happen anywhere, not just in New York, so we need to all remember it.”
Xavier says, “I’ve been to the 9-11 Memorial in New York, to have something here in Atlanta in DeKalb County absolutely is very significant and I hope that everyone comes out and comes by here and pays their respects.”