World Trade Center Relic Saluted in Avalon

AVALON — A thick fog shrouded the borough as volunteer firefighters and police lined up Thur., Sept. 8 to salute a 12-foot, 1,800-pound piece of the World Trade Center as it entered the resort.
The flag-draped, rusting relic from Sept. 11, 2001, will become part of a permanent memorial to that day when America was attacked by terrorists.
The cherished piece of the World Trade Center will be displayed Sun., Sept. 11 at noon at the 11th Street recreation field on Dune Drive. A memorial plaque will be placed there until the permanent tribute is built.
At 1 p.m. on Sept. 11, the borough and many churches in the community plan to participate in a nationwide tribute to the victims and heroes with church bells ringing throughout the resort.
Traffic was halted at the 30th Street Bridge at Ocean Drive shortly before 7 p.m. when
At a brief ceremony in front of the Avalon Public Safety Building on Dune Drive, Monsignor John Frey offered a prayer for the victims of Sept. 11. Frey is pastor of St. Brendan the Navigator Parish in Avalon.
Mayor Martin Pagliughi, attired in full dress firefighter’s uniform, paid homage to those emergency responders who gave their lives on Sept. 11, 2001 as they answered their last call of duty to attempt to save lives of those trapped in the doomed World Trade Center’s Twin Towers.
At the conclusion of the ceremony, police, firefighters and rescue squad members joined to solemnly remove the American flag from atop the I-beam and fold it into a tri-corner memento that was presented to Pagliughi for safekeeping.
Procuring the relic meant an early day Sept. 8 for Pagliughi, Avalon EMS Chief Kevin Scarpa, Public Works Senior Equipment Operator James Wolford and Information Officer Scott Wahl. The band traveled to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City where the relic had been stored in Hangar 17, with other objects from the World Trade Center. It is a two-foot wide box beam.