NORTH YORK, YORK COUNTY -
Firefighters, police and veterans on Friday morning welcomed a reminder of America's most painful day.
The 10-foot, 3,000-pound steel beam from one of New York's World Trade Center towers will make its permanent home at the Prospect Hill Cemetery.
Dozens came out for a rainy receiving ceremony.
"You could see in their faces and their eyes what it meant to them," Jack Sommer said.
Sommer cut through miles of red tape to bring the beam to Prospect Hill.
"It's enormously rewarding for me to be able to bring this icon that's so meaningful to this community," he said.
Barbara Benard says the beam has a special meaning for her family.
She lost her son in Iraq in 2005.
"It was a great honor to be a part of the ceremony bringing this piece of such a great icon to York County," she said.
The beam will be part of a veterans memorial in Prospect Hill, but before it's hoisted on top of two marble pillars, many took advantage of a rare opportunity to touch the beam.
"I knew I had to touch it," Rev. Melanie Maxell, an interfaith minister, said. "I was afraid that it would be too big or too high to be able to get to it, and I was relieved when I saw it was so accessible, because I knew that I had to touch it."
"It is meaningful to people, and they need that sens of contact and that sense of what that symbol means," Sommer said.
Construction will be finished in November on the beam's home atop the "Court of Valor" memorial.
The 10-foot, 3,000-pound steel beam from one of New York's World Trade Center towers will make its permanent home at the Prospect Hill Cemetery.
Dozens came out for a rainy receiving ceremony.
"You could see in their faces and their eyes what it meant to them," Jack Sommer said.
Sommer cut through miles of red tape to bring the beam to Prospect Hill.
"It's enormously rewarding for me to be able to bring this icon that's so meaningful to this community," he said.
Barbara Benard says the beam has a special meaning for her family.
She lost her son in Iraq in 2005.
"It was a great honor to be a part of the ceremony bringing this piece of such a great icon to York County," she said.
The beam will be part of a veterans memorial in Prospect Hill, but before it's hoisted on top of two marble pillars, many took advantage of a rare opportunity to touch the beam.
"I knew I had to touch it," Rev. Melanie Maxell, an interfaith minister, said. "I was afraid that it would be too big or too high to be able to get to it, and I was relieved when I saw it was so accessible, because I knew that I had to touch it."
"It is meaningful to people, and they need that sens of contact and that sense of what that symbol means," Sommer said.
Construction will be finished in November on the beam's home atop the "Court of Valor" memorial.
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