WTC's Last Standing Column Returns
Sans Pomp - Which Was Exactly Right
NY Daily News 8/25/09
What is officially known as Beam
1001B hung lengthwise as the crane swung it over to a hole
leading to the site of the memorial museum six stories
underground.
The beam hung in the sunshine covered in protective white
plastic, an American flag hanging from either side.
A few feet at the bottom were exposed, and some of the
inscriptions made by the recovery workers were visible.
"God Bless Them All," somebody had written of the 2,752 who
perished there, 1,125 of whom were never found.
Two pairs of gloved hands steadied and guided the beam as the
crane lowered it with the same precision that marked the
recovery effort, when huge machines cleared 1.8 million tons of
debris with inexhaustible care.
Now, the final piece of steel was coming back to serve as the
centerpiece of the memorial.
Down it went, slowly, almost tenderly, to a waiting baseplate
set in bedrock just about where the bodies of six Port Authority
police officers had been found along with that of a
wheelchair-bound woman they had been trying to rescue.
"All together," Ryan recalled.
Expert hands welcomed Beam 1001B below and set it in place.
Shims separated the bottom of the beam and the baseplate, a
slight separation needed for a good weld. An ironworker circled
around, sticking in a pen to ensure there was just the right
gap.
Other ironworkers used torches to pre-heat the baseplate and the
bottom of the column. They used a crayon that melts at 250
degrees to determine when both had reached what long experience
has proven to be the best temperature for a weld.
In this place of loss and sacrifice, almost exactly where the
six cops and the woman were found, a welder flipped down his
mask and set to work with a point of light as bright as hope
itself.
The light was so bright a visitor was warned not to stare at it.
The warning came from Tom O'Connor, the very best of the Port
Authority's engineers. He and his boss, Steve Plate, have come
in to get the memorial project going after years of
unconscionable delays.
"We're builders," said Plate, the Port Authority's director of
construction at the World Trade Center. "We like to get the job
done."
With the grandstanding politicians gone, the squabbling
officials at bay and builders building, we seem likely actually
to get a memorial. The site hummed with the energy of a job that
really is getting done.
The new towers are the responsibility of developer Larry
Silverstein, who officially took control of the sites on Sunday.
He has five years to complete construction, or the Port
Authority can step in. Plate and O'Connor could no doubt get
that job done, too.
Meanwhile, Beam 1001B is back home, welded in place. The years
of disgraceful delay sometimes made me doubt another of its
inscriptions, but the truth of it was proven anew yesterday by
the construction workers who demonstrated such skill and care,
who seem capable of building just about anything if given the
chance.
"NYC Forever Strong."
mdaly@nydailynews.com
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