Report: Wife Scratched Tiger Woods' Face, Chased His SUV; Update: Police Unable To Interview Couple Today
Two Doors Fall Off AirTrain At JFK
Senate Report: Bush Missed Chance To Catch Bin Laden
Bloomberg Spent $102 Million On Campaign
Dogs Rescued From Puppy Mills And Shelters Arrive In L.I.
A construction worker taken pictures of the "last column" being unloaded. (Photograph by luluinnyc | Amy Dreher)
The last column removed from the original World Trade Center building after the September 11, 2001 attacks returned to Ground Zero yesterday. The beam, and its graffiti messages and mementos, was raised up and put in place—it will be part of the National September 11 Memorial and Museum. An ironworker told the Daily News, "For this to go up evokes emotion. It shows the rest of the world that even if you knock us down we'll get right back up."
The 60-ton, 36-foot beam's official name is "Column No. 1,0001 B of 2 World Trade Center," but besides the "last column," the NY Times calls it a "makeshift steel shrine," the Post dubs it the "solemn column," and the Daily News writes it was a "symbol of defiance in the face of terror." Retired firefighter Lee Ielpi, whose firefighter son Jonathan died on 9/11, "I spent nine months in recovery after losing my son. Seeing the column taken out was a happy-sad day. Now that it is going up, it shows the world our strength... I also lost 80 to 100 good friends. I'm proud of all of them."
Since being removed in May 2002, the beam had been in storage at a JFK Airport hangar. All the mementos, like photographs and mass cards, were taken off and preserved; September 11 Museum president Joseph Daniels, who called the column "sacred and important," said, "Each one was done incredibly carefully," and that the items will be placed back on. After the jump, video of the last column returning to the WTC site:
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
We'll get right back up... 8 years later.
+1
+1 beam in the ground. (just one)
"It shows the rest of the world that even if you knock us down we'll get right back up."
Uhm, yeah about that. If by right back up you mean we'll put up one piece of debris 8 years later then, yeah....but if you mean we will rebuild what was knocked down, then not so much.
This whole thing is such a fucking disgrace, it disgusts me. Just build a park and a museum there and screw all these giant buildings that nobody needs.
If that dude had anymore union stickers on his helmet his head would be crushed.
that's what I was thinking, what is he 5 yrs old:)
The guy is so ghetto. Notice he is wearing his helmet backwards. How cool is that?
haha:) he's gotta be a dick!!
I don't even care anymore.
I don't understand the fetishizing of these inanimate objects. Can someone explain this to me? Celebrate the people not a damn piece of steel.
Is anyone else a bit disturbed by how much graffiti (I mean street art...) is on this thing. If it's so symbolic and meaningful, why did everyone take a turn pissing on it?
Enough of this pity party; the government should just admit it pulled off 9/11 and be done with it.