HEATHER CASPI
Firehouse.Com News
AP Photo/David Gochfeld
Sheila Clark looks at a bronze statue of a firefighter as it sits in its temporary position outside of a New York City hotel, Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2001. Originally commissioned by the state of Missouri as a memorial to their fallen firefighters, the statue has become an instant shrine to the dead in the World Trade Center disaster. The statue was en route to Missouri, but was being donated to New York in the wake of the terorist attack.
|
A bronze firefighter statue that was being shipped through New York
City during last week's terrorist attacks may now stay there
permanently, rather than continuing on to it's original destination.
The giant firefighter, bent down on one knee, was cast and shipped
from Italy to honor Missouri's 300 fallen firefighters at a memorial
site being constructed there.
Instead, it may now serve as a tribute to all the firefighters killed
as a result of the attacks on the World Trade Center.
The Fire Fighters Memorial Foundation of Missouri ordered the statue
in October of 2000, said secretary/treasurer Dale Arnold. They found
out last Wednesday that it had arrived at Kennedy International
Airport and had been awaiting clearance through Customs for several
days.
The decision to offer the statue to the city of New York was approved
quickly and unanimously by the foundation on Friday, within an hour
of the suggestion, Arnold said.
Courtesy MO Firefighters Memorial
|
"It's an honor to be part of the healing process," he said. However,
it was not clear Wednesday if and where the city will find a
permanent location for the statue.
The idea to donate the statue came from president David DeCarlo of
Matthews Bronze, the Pittsburgh based company that arranged the
statue's construction. Arnold said the company is going to replace
the foundation's statue at no cost.
Although it will be another three to four months before the
foundation will receive the second statue, Arnold said they will be
honored to have a twin to the memorial in New York City.
After clearing customs at the airport, the statue was temporarily
placed on a flat bed truck outside a New York City hotel, where it
was quickly surrounded by flowers and candles, Arnold said.
Related:
