EL PASO COUNTY — "This steel beam once stood at the World Trade Center in New York City, tall and proud with others like it now, it stands here, tarnished and bent but unbroken," says Don Addy as he reads the 9/11 memorial plaque set up outside Gate 1 at Fort Carson.
As Addy reads the plaque, he acknowledges another important memorial is just steps away. It's the Mountain Post Warrior Memorial in Kit Carson Park.
"If you look over here to the right of me, there are all these granite slabs with names of people who died serving while deployed," said Addy as he pointed to the Warrior Memorial. "So this is a perfect spot for this because it's that event that triggered Operation Iraqi Freedom, that caused people to go fight for our nation."
That call to serve is the inspiration behind Addy's determination to bring permanent reminders of what happened that day to southern Colorado. Addy says in 2009, his friend COL Butch Kievenaar, who was the commander of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team of the 4th Infantry Division at Fort Carson, told him 9/11 did not have the same impact on his soldiers as it did on older citizens.
"Col. Kievenaar said, 'I wish I had some way to tell my troops about what happened, they're all young.'" He then introduced me to the people in New York, and one thing led to another.
Addy traveled to New York where steel salvaged from the World Trade Center was stored in a hanger at John F. Kennedy International Airport.
"This was one of the things laying on the floor," as he points to the steel beam now on display outside of Fort Carson.
The goal was to use the items to create memorials to the victims of 9/11. Addy picked six beams to bring back. One is on display behind the gates at Cheyenne Mountain Space Force Station.
Addy talked about why he picked that piece of steel now at CMSFS.
"Because it's so ugly and it's so big and it's so it communicates so much about what happened," he said.
The other four beams are at the Air Force Academy, Schriever and Peterson Space Force bases, and UCCS.
UCCS engineering students designed the memorial displayed at their school to face directly towards the other one they designed at Cheyenne Mountain Space Force Station. Addy says each design choice by the students was intentional. At CMSFS the base of the memorial is shaped like the Pentagon with words from President George W. Bush that say 'We will not tire. We will not falter. We will not fail.' It was part of a statement he made as he addressed the nation shortly after the attacks, vowing to bring justice to the victims through a war on terror.
Cadets at the Air Force Academy are reminded daily of the tragedy as they march past the twisted steel beam from the towers centered between two granite rocks.
"The symbology that's important," said Addy. "The two (granite) towers in between them is the beam, just remembering the destruction."
The memorial a gift from the class of 1976 with the words "We remember" and the three crash sites etched into the Pentagon shaped base.
"This was dedicated in May of 2010 by General (Gene) Renuart who was the commander at the time he was heavily involved in the Iraq War," said Addy as he stood next to the memorial at Peterson.
Addy says the display at Peterson Space Force Base, now the home of North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM), was dedicated in May of 2010 by the commander General Gene Renuart. Addy says General Renuart was heavily involved in the Iraq War.
"USNORTHCOM didn't exist until after 9/11 and now it does," said Addy. "It's a combatant command that protects North America, along with NORAD.
The base of the display at Peterson is shaped like the Pentagon, too, filled with soil from one of the crash sites.
"The dirt inside comes from Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where Flight 93 went down," Addy said.
Those flight paths part of the display at Schreiver. Each path is etched into the concrete around the display. Three yellow circles mark each crash site. They are details Addy hopes will help remind people of the day that changed the U.S. forever.
"We got to remember this," said Addy. "We just can never forget this."
Public access to the six memorial sites is limited. The public can access the displays at UCCS and outside gate 1 of Fort Carson. The others require security clearances (News 5 had media escorts to each of those locations.)
You can view the timeline Addy created showing the many steps involved in building the memorials in our area below.
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