PORT ANGELES — Today at noon, bagpipes will be played at the 9/11 monument at Francis Street Park.
Ricky McKenzie said he plans to mark the 15th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York; the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.; and the plane that went down in Shanksville, Pa.
“I do it because it should be done, to pay my respects so no one forgets and because there’s no official ceremony,” the Coast Guard veteran said.
The Francis Street Park memorial features a 9-foot I-beam recovered from Ground Zero in New York City.
Alan Barnard, chairman of the Clallam County Public Safety Tribute Committee, and Capt. Duke Moroz of the Port Angeles Fire Department toured the 1,450-pound I-beam throughout Clallam County — with stops in Port Angeles, Sequim, Clallam Bay, Neah Bay and Forks — before the 9/11 artifact became the centerpiece of a new memorial erected to honor local public-safety workers in 2011.
The memorial originated with two Port Angeles Coast Guardsmen: Samuel Allen and Andrew Moravec. They asked the Port Authority of New York/New Jersey for the piece in 2009, and delivery was sanctioned by the 9/11 Commission.
It was pulled from a building where 2,752 people died, including 343 New York City firefighters, 37 Port Authority police officers and 23 New York City police officers.
In 2012, the final piece was added to the monument, a bronze plaque created by Port Angeles Bob Stokes that reads:
“In memory of those who have fallen and with gratitude for those who serve, the citizens of Clallam County dedicate this monument to the brave men and women of public safety, September 11, 2001.
“Never forget September 11, 2001.”
A memorial featuring an 843-pound of sheet metal from the fallen World Trade Center was erected in 2015 at the the Sequim Civic Center Community Plaza, 152 W. Cedar St.
The artifact was retrieved in 2011 by Sequim Police Chief Bill Dickinson, Sgt. Darrell Nelson and Officer Randy Kellas, and was stored by the police department for four years until it was incorporated into the plaza design for the Civic Center.
It includes a dedication plaque at the base of the flag poles in the Community Plaza and recognizes each of the three attack sites impacted that day.
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Reporter Jesse Major can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56250, or at jmajor@peninsuladailynews.com.
