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Veterans to Display 9/11
Steel I-beams at Merritt Island Museum
Center adding Twin Towers remnants at memorial plaza
From:
Florida Today
 Maurice Meisner helped unpack two twisted pieces of steel I-beams at the Veterans Memorial Center on Thursday morning.
"Is there any doubt where these came from?" he asked the others present. "This will be the 9/11 memorial."
The remnants of the World Trade Center immediately will be displayed inside the museum and later will be mounted on a monument at the center's memorial plaza, which has tributes to the veterans of different wars in which the United States was involved.
"We're building a tribute to all the wars," said Meisner, the immediate past president of the center who arranged to get the steel pieces. "It wouldn't be complete without a memorial to 9/11."
Skip Bateman, chairman of the Brevard Veterans Council, said it was fitting for the pieces to be part of the war memorial. He said that while there were other incidents of terrorism that occurred before, the war on terror began after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
“That sure says there is where it started," Bateman said.
Members of the center gathered Thursday morning to ceremonially open the boxes containing the pieces they had received the day before. "This is a reminder to us that the world is not safe unless we're ready to defend ourselves," said John Howard, a veteran of World War II, Korea and Vietnam.
Bill Vagianos, president of the Veterans Memorial Center, said it was an honor to be able to display the pieces from the World Trade Center.
“Just the symbolism of these artifacts will go a long way in remembering those who were lost on Sept. 11," he said.
Contact Moody at 321-242-3651
or
nmoody@floridatoday.com
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