A remnant of the World Trade Center can be seen at Macomb’s downtown fire station, 219 W. Jackson St.
The piece is on loan from the Freedom Flag Foundation.
Lt. Ethan Taylor said they know which tower the piece came from because of the serial numbers on it.
“They were able to identify that that steel came between the 92nd and 95th floor of World Trade Center One. So, the first tower that got struck. It was actually in that impact zone,” he told the city council.
Taylor said there was nothing physical in Macomb to remind people about the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. He hopes the display can serve that purpose and help teach younger generations about the attacks.
Fire Chief Dan Meyer said it’s not known how long the piece will remain available for display in Macomb.
He said anyone can call or come to the station 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. see it.
The Freedom Flag Foundation is a nonprofit organization. Supporters say they want to establish the Freedom Flag as a permanent symbol of remembrance for the 9/11 attacks.
According to Taylor:
- The blue field in the flag stands for the freedoms Americans enjoy.
- The white star in the blue field represents the military personnel who fought on that day and in Operation Enduring Freedom.
- The five bars surrounding the white star represent the Pentagon.
- The two red bars in the middle represent the twin towers in New York City.
- The top red stripe represents the flight crew and passengers on the plane that crashed into the Pentagon.
- The bottom red stripe is for the flight crew and passengers of Flight 93, which crashed into the field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
- The three white stripes are for the police officers, fire fighters, and other rescue personnel who responded to the disasters on that day.
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