5 minute read
Never forget
Remembrance & Education
A simple seed flourishes for future generations
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story by Brett McLaughlin | photos by Jerry Beard
Now and for decades to come, generations of young people being educated in the Upstate and visitors to South Carolina’s “Golden Corner” will be beneficiaries of a simple seed planted 20 years ago by a handful of lakeside residents.
When terrorists destroyed the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001, killing more than 3,000 people, shockwaves reached every corner of America.
Seeds of patriotism that lay dormant on that cool, clear fall morning bloomed as if it were spring. From neighborhood blood drives to a national wave of military enlistments unseen in 50 years, America responded.
In the meeting room of the Salem Lions Club a suggestion was made that a small memorial honoring fallen first responders should be erected outside the Keowee Key Fire Department. Nurtured by Salem Lions members, that seed would grow. Men like the late Rich Simington and current Greenville resident Mike Chengrian worked tirelessly. When they passed from the scene, others such as Jeff Wolfe, Carl Halverson and Eddie Nichols took up the torch. Late club member John Harris donated $10,000, and long-time member Sen. Thomas Alexander secured significant state funding.
Meanwhile, support in the community grew. A small committee raised thousands of additional dollars from private and business interests. In-kind contributions flourished from designers, builders, landscapers, service clubs and first responder organizations.
Ultimately, that small seed grew into far more than a “small memorial.”
The recently dedicated 9/11 Memorial on Razorback Lane, adjacent to Walhalla Middle School, is an awe-inspiring site that will not only honor first responders past, present and future, but will also serve as an educational resource for students and visitors for decades to come.
The centerpiece of the Memorial consists of three large pedestals. One contains a piece of steel salvaged from the debris of the Twin Towers and collected by local firefighters who went to New York shortly after the tragedy. A second contains a piece of debris from the Pentagon, which was also struck by a plane hijacked by terrorists that day. The center pedestal has a flame that will be lit for special occasions — Memorial Day, Independence Day, 9/11, etc. — and a plexiglass window through which visitors can see soil collected from Shanksville, PA, where heroic passengers overwhelmed the hijackers of a third plane and forced it down short of its intended target, believed to be either the White House or the U.S. Capitol Building.
{above} Some 400 people attended the Sept. 11 dedication of Oconee County’s new 9/11 Memorial. • {left} This piece of concrete was retrieved from the Pentagon crash site.
Engraved in the sidewalk around each pedestal are quotes from elected, military and civilian leaders, while the sidewalk that encircles all three pedestals is engraved with words such as “honor,” “courage” and “dedication.”
A trio of lighted flagpoles displays the U.S. and South Carolina flags as well as a 9/11 tribute flag. Several panels provide visitors with more information about the events of that day, as well as statistics associated with 9/11.
{top left} Three pedestals form the centerpiece of the Memorial, each commemorating a crash site on that day. • {top right} Quotes from government, military and civilian leaders have been engraved in the sidewalks of the Memorial. • {above} People gathered around the center pedestal for the dedication of the 9/11 Memorial. A flame and soil from the Shanksville, PA, crash site are part of that pedestal.
“From the very beginning, the plan has been to develop a memorial that invokes remembrance of the day and can be used as an educational resource,” commented Brandon Shirley, chief of the Keowee Key Fire Department and navigator of the 20-year journey to build the Memorial.
“It is gorgeous and, on the Friday before the dedication, I arrived to meet with some of the police and fire personnel that were going to be involved (in the dedication), and there were 12 middle school students and a teacher sitting on the center pedestal reading ‘The Morning the Towers Fell.’ These were kids that were not a thought in their mommy’s and daddy’s minds when it happened. This is why we built it,” he said.
Shirley said additional signage and lighting, as well as benches and additional landscaping are planned for the site. To enhance the educational experience, plans call for more informational panels, some of which will contain QR codes to access online information about the events of 9/11.
Razorback Lane is located off SC183 west of downtown Walhalla, SC. n
While an online donation site is being developed, those wishing to donate may do so by sending contributions to: 9/11 Memorial, 115 Maintenance Road, Salem, SC, 29676.
Keowee Key Fire Chief Brandon Shirley is pictured near a piece of Twin Towers steel that he and other firefighters collected after the 9/11 tragedy. For nearly 20 years, Shirley has helped navigate the construction of the Memorial that was dedicated this past 9/11.
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