Never Forget

Westerville commemorates first responders and heroes of 9/11

By Bre Offenberger

Every year, Westerville and its residents hold a memorial service at First Responders Park to commemorate the heroes, survivors and lives lost on Sept. 11, 2001. As the 20th anniversary approaches, the city of Westerville and its leaders are reflecting on how they brought a piece of that history to the city.

The focal point of First Responders Park is a piece of steel called C-40 that was salvaged from the north tower of the World Trade Center after the 9/11 attacks, Mayor Kathy Cocuzzi says. The inspiration to attain the piece began with Westerville firefighter and medic Tom Ullom. Ullom had long been involved in the planning of First Responders Park as he advocated for a firefighters memorial dedicated to David Theisen, a city of Westerville firefighter who died in the line of duty in 1998. That statue, titled The Crossing, was erected at the park in 2011.

However, during its planning phase, First Responders Park had a slow start. After Ullom struggled to fundraise sufficient money, Westerville city officials encouraged him to apply for an Ohio Cultural Arts Commission grant. When that took off, Ullom brainstormed how to make the park even more spectacular, and there seemed to be no better way to honor the work and sacrifices of first responders than to display a piece from the World Trade Center site.

After Ullom made arrangements, he, Cocuzzi and Michael Hooper, Westerville Parks and Recreation development administrator at the time, drove to the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Maryland to retrieve the piece. Cocuzzi says while there were bigger pieces they could have selected, they chose C-40 for a very particular reason.

“This steel bent, but it didn’t break,” Cocuzzi says. “We thought it could give hope at the time while people would remember that it was injured but still there. It showed us the worst thing that could happen, and yet it didn’t break completely.”

Westerville fire and police chaplain David Hogg, who coordinates the annual memorial service, says he was present when Westerville received C-40. The first time he touched it, he recalls tearing up and getting chills. Hogg and his wife, Paulette, continue to visit the park two or three times a week to stop at the steel and remember. The annual memorial service, which is put on by the Westerville Police/ Fire Chaplain Corps, will be similar to years past, Hogg says. It will stay true to its original purpose: to honor those who lost their lives on 9/11 as well as all first responders in Westerville.

This year’s speakers will include John Bokros, Westerville’s retired chief fire marshal who helped bring the 9/11 memorial event to Westerville.

Hogg, who has overseen the memorial service since 2008, understands the weight of this event and how important it is to Westerville residents.

“It’s a tremendous responsibility but also a tremendous privilege to be able to do this, that our community will not forget what happened, and our community has been very supportive of this,” Hogg says.

When people gather for this year’s memorial service to honor the lives lost, Cocuzzi will remember her drive to Maryland and how she helped bring back a piece of history that forever ties Westerville and the country together in solidarity.

“There were a lot of people who worked hard to bring that steel here,” Cocuzzi says. “I’m just grateful that it’s here in our community and that people have the opportunity to view it, to touch it, to pay their respects to the people we lost.”