Yesterday was the 8 year anniversary of September 11, 2001. That day is permanently etched in my memory. I remember walking through the rubble from my office near Broad & Water Streets in lower Manhattan all the way up First Avenue to the UN building where I got a cab. The entire city was down in the streets giving walkers like us water and expressing solidarity.
Each one of us has his or her own personal memory of that day. But now there is another living memory of that day, a memory we all can share. It is called USS New York. This is a warship built from 24 tons of scrap steel from the World Trade Center. USS New York will visit New York City on November 1, 2009 and will be inducted in the U.S. Navy on November 7, 2009.
The motto of the ship is Never Forget.
Steel from the World Trade Center was melted down in a foundry in Amite, LA, to cast the ship’s bow section. When it was poured into the moulds on September 9, 2003, “those big rough steelworkers treated it with total reverence” recalled Navy Captain Kevin Wensing who was there “It was a spiritual moment for everybody there”.
Junior Chavers, foundry operations manager, said that when the trade center steel first arrived, he touched it with his hand and the “hair on my neck stood up”. “It had a big meaning to it for all of us,” he said “They knocked us down. They can’t keep us down. We are going to be back”.
USS New York is the fifth in a new class of warship – designed for missions that include special operations against terrorists. It will carry a crew of 360 sailors and 700 combat-ready Marines to be delivered ashore by helicopters and assault craft.
Editor’s Note: This information and the pictures were sent to us by a business associate. We thank this wonderful bond sales trader for this gift.
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Never Forget
