Updated

Updated · Fox News · Sep 2

West Point Receives 21-Foot World Trade Center Beam as 25th 9/11 Anniversary Nears

Updated

Updated · Fox News · Sep 2

West Point Receives 21-Foot World Trade Center Beam as 25th 9/11 Anniversary Nears

Q: Beyond honoring the fallen, what broader charitable mission drives this nationwide tour of a massive 9/11 relic?

The nationwide tour is also meant to advance the Tunnel to Towers Foundation’s broader charitable mission of supporting veterans, first responders and their families through housing and long-term aid. Beyond remembrance, the foundation uses the visibility of the “Steel Across America” tour to highlight and help fund programs that provide mortgage-free homes to Gold Star families and families of fallen first responders with young children, as well as specially adapted smart homes for catastrophically injured veterans and first responders. The mission also includes combating veteran homelessness. Tunnel to Towers has expanded into permanent supportive housing and Veterans Villages, along with rental and housing assistance for homeless veterans. It also offers education support, including scholarships for children in families served by its home programs. In short, the 9/11 steel beam tour is both a memorial and a public-facing extension of the foundation’s “do good” mission: preserve the memory of 9/11 while turning that legacy into practical support for those still bearing the costs of service and sacrifice.

3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Sep 2

A 21-foot, 16,900-pound steel beam from the World Trade Center’s South Tower arrived at West Point on Tuesday as part of Tunnel to Towers’ Steel Across America tour.
The stop — the tour’s 33rd — was framed as a link between first responders on Sept. 11 and generations of West Point graduates who later served in Afghanistan, Iraq and other war-on-terror deployments.
Lt. Gen. James Bartholomees III and Tunnel to Towers CEO Frank Siller led a ceremony with cadets, faculty and first responders, including a color guard, blessing of the steel and a moment of reflection.
Frank Siller invoked his brother Stephen Siller’s final run toward the towers with 60 pounds of gear, while attendees including Col. Dan Steuwe and supporter Kelly Heffner described the beam as a powerful personal symbol.
The nationwide commemoration continues Thursday in Boston, carrying a physical artifact of 9/11 ahead of the attacks’ 25th anniversary.