The Debris Was So High No Ladder Was Needed to Mark the Last Column
The 50-ton steel beam never left where the South Tower fell, and it became the first memorial to September 11.
Fox News Rewind: 9/11 · EP 8 | 25 Years Later - Live from the 9/11 MuseumA worker on the pile wanted the next shift to know. An axe from Squad 41 had been found nearby, and there might be additional equipment or missing crew members close by. So he wrote Squad 41 on the steel column beside him, a marking that reads SQ-41.
People assume the crew used a ladder to reach that high on the column. No ladder was needed, because the surrounding rubble pile rose nearly to that level, putting it within easy reach.
That column with its early marking is the first memorial to September 11. The 50-ton column never shifted from its original position after the towers collapsed. It stood in the South Tower, near the roadway crews used to get down into the debris. Crews initially exposed part of the steel and attempted to shift it, but it stayed fast. As they uncovered more of it, it became a place to leave names.
People signed it. They added handwritten names of people being sought, whether still missing or already confirmed among the dead. The numbers of people killed from different agencies were marked on it, for the Fire Department of New York, the Port Authority Police Department, and the New York Police Department, and for the civilians who were killed.
U.S. Air Force veteran Dr. Elizabeth Hillman, president and CEO of the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, was asked to name one essential teaching point. She picked "the moment the last column was removed from the site." By then, workers had spent months from September 11 until May 30, 2002, searching under treacherous conditions, and the site had become an empty pit after 1.8 million tons of debris were removed.
Crews lifted the final column away, covered with black draping and a flag, and played Amazing Grace during the removal. If the story is told starting there, Hillman said, people see the respect with which the column was treated and develop the curiosity to understand what happened on September 11.
Questions people ask
What is a squad company?
Squad companies are specialized fire units that do regular engine work plus rescues, building collapses, and hazardous materials calls. In New York, they are sent when a job is especially difficult or technical, and they carry extra tools beyond a normal fire company.
Where can you see the column today?
It stands in Foundation Hall, the huge underground room at the museum that also holds the concrete wall built to keep the Hudson River out. The column rises through the space, and visitors can walk around its base and see the tributes, signatures, and markings up close.
Why would finding an axe lead a worker to mark a beam?
At large collapses, crews often leave simple notes about what they found and where, so the next shift knows where to dig. An axe, a helmet, or a piece of turnout gear can mean firefighters may be buried nearby, which focuses the search in that spot.