FDNY Firefighters Present Myrtle Beach With World Trade Center Beam

One by one people made their way to the stage where a four-foot steel beam from the World Trade Center’s North Tower was displayed. Some had tears in their eyes, others had smiles on their faces, while others studied the oxidized and wounded hunk of metal that once called Ground Zero home.

Regardless of expression, everyone paid their respects to a memorial – that manages to reflect the raw nature of the attacks and emotions that remain – honoring those who lost their lives in the deadliest terror attacks in American history.
 

To mark the upcoming 10-year anniversary of 9-11, New York City firefighters donated the ribbon beam from the fallen North Tower of the World Trade Center to the Myrtle Beach tourism community during an emotional ceremony at Springmaid Beach Resort as part of the FDNY 9-11 Memorial Golf Outing.

Kevin O’Brien, who brought the FDNY event to Myrtle Beach 10 years ago, worked to help secure the beam as gesture of appreciation for the small role the Grand Strand tourism community played in helping New York City service workers heal from the attacks.

Myrtle Beach began hosting the FDNY 9-11 Memorial Golf Outing in the spring of 2002, and with the 10th anniversary of the attacks on New York City, Washington, D.C. and Stonycreek, Pa., nearly upon us, 750 firefighters from across the United States took a momentary break from the golf outing’s festive atmosphere for the moving presentation.

As a pair of uniformed FDNY firefighters flanked the beam, draped prior to its unveiling in an American flag, the assembled crowd helped sing the national anthem and fell silent as an FDNY firemen played a chill and tear-inducing version of Amazing Grace on the bagpipes.

The ceremony was particularly poignant for the assembled firefighters, given that 343 of their FDNY brethren died when the towers collapsed. Firefighters from across the nation flocked to Ground Zero to assist the FDNY in the aftermath of the attacks, attended funerals, and helped the city return to its feet.

The outpouring from across America helped inspire the birth of the FDNY 9-11 Golf Outing. The annual event, held on more than 30 Myrtle Beach golf courses, brings firefighters from across America together for a good time and to raise money to support families of the fallen.

O’Brien, the master of ceremonies for the presentation, Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday president Bill Golden, who helped make the event a reality on the Grand Strand, and Myrtle Beach mayor John Rhodes addressed the crowd.

The City of Myrtle Beach is creating a permanent memorial site for the beam at The Market Common and it will be dedicated this summer.