A painful and powerful piece of American history made a stop at a Near West Side fire station today.
“It feels like it was yesterday, you think about memories, friends and coworkers that we lost. At the same time, it feels like a lifetime ago.”
Joe Lapointe is a retired New York Fire Department Lieutenant and current board member of Tunnel to Towers, the foundation traveling cross-country with a nearly 17-thousand-pound steel beam recovered from the World Trade Center, part of a commemoration of the 25th anniversary of 9/11 next month.
Tunnel to Towers ceremony at Engine 18
Andy Dahn WBBM
“It’s rewarding and satisfying, you’re helping to keep that promise to the families and meeting great people.”
Including here at Engine 18. Lapointe says Chicago was one of several US cities to step up in a major way in the wake of 9/11, and New York hasn’t forgotten.
“A lot of these guys, they attended our funerals.”
The Tunnel to Towers tour now makes it way to Indianapolis.
