GATHER Veterans-Warriors-Heroes Sept/Oct 2022 Magazine

Never Forget

Fire Chief Patrick Parker and the Grand Traverse 9/11 Memorial

By Amanda Renkiewicz

It started with a magazine and led to Rudy Giuliani pulling out a checkbook.

Fire Chief Patrick Parker was browsing through a trade journal during a peaceful moment at his firehouse when he saw an article about the 9/11 Families Association. They were reaching out to fire departments across the country, offering an artifact from 9/11, and Pat was intrigued at the idea of any type of gift. He responded, writing about what they would do if they received an artifact, along with ideas for displaying it and keeping it open to the public. He sent his information, then went back to work.

Months later, the phone rang, and it was New York on the line. “You’re getting an artifact,” the representative from the 9/11 Families Association informed him. “What do you want?”

Pat was honored at the thought of anything but saw the opportunity to go big. “Something that would fit in the back of a pickup truck!” he responded quickly.

300-pound floor beam from the North Tower,” was the reply.

“Well, that won’t fit in a pickup truck, but yes, we want it!” Pat answered.

Three firefighters drove out to downtown New York to pick up the piece. They arrived at Hanger #17 at JFK airport and saw the surreal amount of what remained from the Twin Towers: radio antennas, crushed fire trucks, and pieces of metal. They backed their trailer up to the door, and the New York firefighters helped load the broken beam.

The moment brought together a fraternity of everyone who carried the devastation of 9/11 in their hearts. “Never forget,” their East Coast brethren told them gravely. The Michigan crew swore that the piece would be in high regard, and in a place of honor forever. They draped the artifact with an American flag and began their journey west.

As they entered Grand Traverse County on April 7, 2011, nearly ten years after the most horrifying event in our present history, a Sheriff’s Escort took them and this piece of 9/11 home.

Then the question was raised: What are we going to do with it?

The strategic thinking began. “While we firefighters are the stewards of it, it’s the people’s artifact,” Chief Parker says. “On that morning, this piece was standing proudly in the Tower before the attack. Of course, as the fire service we embrace 9/11, knowing that 343 firefighters died that day rushing into the Twin Towers to save others. It’s hard to put into words what it means to me and our community that we have this.”

The beam was already being honored throughout Northern Michigan. The team first planned a 10thanniversary tribute at the Open Space, where over a thousand people came to view the artifact. It was then driven through the Cherry Festival parade before being placed at the corner of 3 Mile and Parson’s roads, a scenic area to build a tribute to it. Many donations of money and time from people and businesses contributed to the Memorial. They put up signage that describes the day’s events, from the first plane hitting the Tower, to the attempted Pentagon attack and the downed plane in Pennsylvania.

Adopt A Hero has been a fundraising tool to contribute to the Memorial and its upkeep. A list of every firefighter who died that day, along with his or her story and background, is available for people to view online. For $75, a brick is purchased in honor of that firefighter, and used in the Memorial.

Rudy Giuliani himself, the former and beloved mayor of New York City, came to Traverse City and visited our 9/11 Memorial. When he saw the Adopt A Hero list, he pulled out his checkbook, picking out the faces of people he had known personally and buying a brick in their honor.

The Memorial is open year-round and has become a sacred refuge for visitors to reflect. “We look at it and think about it daily. We always pause on 9/11 at 8:46 am, the time when the first plane hit the Tower,” says Chief Parker. “People come day and night to see the beam. Some people touch it or reach for it like it’s too sacred to touch. It’s become a type of wishing well with coins scattered around. And on the morning of every 9/11, someone, we don’t know who, but someone lays flowers there.”

The artifact leans 10 degrees towards New York, as if it, too, recalls its purpose and placement in the North Tower in downtown Manhattan.

The Latin words Omnis Cedo Domus are inscribed on the front of the firehouse’s garage and uniform emblems. Meaning “Everyone Goes Home”, this motto is an initiative that Chief Parker and his team follow every moment of their careers. “This is a dangerous profession. Nobody wakes up thinking they could die that day,” he says solemnly. “We preach that we need to look out for another. Our goal is to never have a name on a memorial for our firefighters. I never want to go to someone’s home to tell them that their family didn’t make it. Everyone Goes Home.”

For the 343 firefighters and thousands of others who did not make it home on September 11, 2001, we honor their lives and remember them through the steel beam that stands in tribute to a day that lives in our hearts forever.

Visit the Memorial at 897 Parsons Road, Traverse City, MI 49686