Bloomfield Officials Honor World Trade Center Steel

The voyage to and from John F. Kennedy Airport in Queens, New York, took nearly five hours, but this was no ordinary trip.

Two Bloomfield businessmen and two township police officers traveled through the rain and traffic-clogged highways Wednesday morning to pick up a significant piece of cargo: steel from the World Trade Center.

The Bloomfield school district is creating a memorial for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks at the newly renovated Foley Field and the beam will be the centerpiece.

Landscaping and garden center owner Martin O'Boyle and his son, Marty, drove a truck and a trailer to the airport to retrieve the 12.25 foot-long steel beam. They were escorted by police officers Ben Christiano and John Morano.

As a patriotic tribute, the men tied an American flag from Bloomfield High School over the metal bar.

Martin O'Boyle said the artifact brought back memories of the event and the volunteer time he spent at Ground Zero five days after the attacks; he helped unload water and other supplies for emergency workers.

"Amazing, how solemn it is," O'Boyle said while looking at the metal beam. "It seems like yesterday, not ten years ago."

Details on new Sept. 11 memorial

Superintendent Jason Bing requested the artifact from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Bing wrote in an e-mail that the steel will be "a symbol of remembrance and resilience."

The memorial site will be landscaped and it will include a dedication plaque inscribed with the name of the three township residents who died in the World Trade Center: Cesar A. Alviar, 60, an accountant at Marsh & McLennan; Catherine A. Nardella, 40, an insurance consultant at Aon Corp.; and Daniel Rossetti, 32, a carpenter who was working on a job at Aon Corp.

Completion of the memorial will be contingent on the weather, Steve Jenkins, the Bloomfield High School athletic director, wrote in an e-mail.

School officials will mention the memorial during the ribbon-cutting for the field today, but it is not a formal dedication.

Township officials will continue to hold their annual memorial ceremony at the memorial plaque on Liberty and Broad streets. The service will take place at 10 a.m. Sunday and include a wreath laying and flag presentation to the three local families who lost loved ones.

Hundreds of cities, small towns and police and fire departments across the country have created Sept. 11 memorials using World Trade Center steel.

A V-shaped steel bar was unveiled Tuesday at Essex County's Eagle Rock Reservation in West Orange. That event was attended by Essex County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo Jr. and Gov. Chris Christie.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey recieved 1,300 requests and about 80 percent of the requests have been filled, said Steve Coleman, a spokesman.

The metal artifacts are being distributed to government agencies, police and fire departments across the country with the specific intention of creating memorials. While many of the steel pieces are marked with numbers from the recovery period, Coleman said it is unclear what the metal was used for prior to the attacks.

Local reactions to World Trade Center steel

Bloomfield's piece of steel arrive at the renovated football field in the early afternoon. Mayor Raymond McCarthy, Police Chief Christopher Goul and other officers took pictures of the 980 pound bar and watched as school mechanics use a backhoe to move the steel in place.

Mayor McCarthy said he felt goosebumps as he watched the truck pull up and he is thankful Superintendent Bing was able to bring the artifact to the township.

Police Chief Goul said looking at the steel was very sombering to look at. "It makes us remember Sept. 11 and we should always be vigilant."

The metal also had a special resonance for Lt. James Behre, who went down to New York City that afternoon with several other Bloomfield police officers to assist with rescue efforts.

Behre said they pulled into lower Manhattan right when 7 World Trade Center collapsed into a huge cloud of dust.

"You heard the noise and you see the debris and you think, Oh, God, you're in it," Behre said. "We put our department on the list to help, but it was just firefighters going in and out."

The Bloomfield officers ended up volunteering to move food and water for other emergency workers for about a month following the attacks, Behre said.

When Behre looked at the World Trade Center steel, he said it brought back all of those memories.

"You start thinking about the loss of life," Behre said. "It's all in the news and its the 10-year anniversary already. It's sad to think about it - it's depressing. It's tough for the families, too, who lost loved ones."

The images that struck Behre the most was watching all of the emergency workers digging into the rubble well into the night.

"Everyone else was fleeing New York and the rescue workers were rushing to get in," he said.