Approximately 125 people attended the September 10, 2017, groundbreaking ceremony for the EMS Council of New Jersey’s (EMSCNJ) 9/11 memorial, which will feature a piece of steel beam from the World Trade Center. The monument — the only one in the USA dedicated exclusively to all the emergency medical services personnel who responded that day — will sit next to the borough’s existing 9/11 memorial on Beachway Avenue. EMSCNJ and Keansburg officials collaborated on the project.
Ceremony participants and guests included: EMSCNJ President Joseph G. Walsh, Jr. of Neptune; Keansburg Borough Mayor George Hoff; Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ-06); Assemblyman Declan J. O’Scanlon, Jr. (R-Dist. 13); Monmouth County Freeholder Serena DiMaso, who is also an active riding member of the Holmdel First Aid Squad; and Martin Nystrom of the 9/11 Tribute Center, a former Maplewood First Aid Squad member who responded during 9/11.
The five-foot long, 338-pound portion of rusty, twisted steel measures 34-inches wide and 29-inches high. It will be mounted on a massive rock that washed up in Keansburg after Super Storm Sandy, and be displayed between replicas of the Twin Towers. Its placement will be in direct line to where the towers stood across the Raritan Bay.
Dedication of the finished memorial is planned for September 2018.
– Fire News photos courtesy of Sylvie Mulvaney, EMSCNJ
