Sep 10, 2008 7:44 pm US/Eastern
Public Invited To Sign 9/11 Memorial Steel Beams
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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Dawn breaks over Ground Zero on Sept. 11, 2007, the sixth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York.
AP
On the eve of the seventh anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, New Yorkers are being invited to sign steel beams that will be used in the construction of a memorial and museum.
Just blocks from Ground Zero, on the edge of Battery Park, so-called "notes of hope" will be offered on cold, hard steel. Those who witnessed the tragic attack almost feel a sense of obligation to take part in the signing.
"Because I was here at 9/11, saw the planes, lived in the area, lived two blocks from Ground Zero," says Barbara Ireland, a nearby resident. "My neighborhood and friends all were part of 9/11, just like you."
Two steel beams, each weighing four tons, will be used in the 9/11 Memorial and Museum.
"A lot of people lost their lives here. I'm here for them," says Paul Arrabuigo.
Over the past year, some of the other 37-foot construction beams travelled to 25 cities in 25 states, allowing tens of thousands of people to share their thoughts and reflections on 9/11.
"Naturally, people will forget. It's important for us to remind them, some were not even born at the time," says New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Bloomberg also signed a beam, remembering the unspeakable tragedy that firefighter Vinnie Forras witnessed firsthand.
"I was there, and I have an overriding fear that America is trying to forget this," admits Forras.
But Uschi Ueltzhoeffer of Menlo Park, N.J. and her children, can't forget. She lost her husband John, and wants to see the memorial completed.
"I hope they rebuild it soon. I don't want to look at a hole any more," says Ueltzhoeffer.
The beams with the notes will be at the memorial Wednesday and Thursday, and at the Meadowlands on Sunday for the Jets home opener.
Bloomberg is pushing for a firm completion date of the memorial by the 10th anniversary in 2011.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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