PORT ANGELES — The final touches on the Port Angeles 9/11 emergency workers monument were completed Monday, just in time for today’s 11th anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks.
But unlike on the 10th anniversary, there will be no formal commemorations on the North Olympic Peninsula this year.
The monument, at Francis Street Park overlooking Port Angeles Harbor, was the result of the efforts of two Coast Guard petty officers, who organized bringing a 9-foot World Trade Center I-beam from New York to Port Angeles.
Putting the final touches on the year-old monument Monday were Alan Barnard, organizer of the community effort to fund the monument, along with welder and artist Gray Lucier, who welded the I-beam into place last year, and artist Bob Stokes who created and installed the final piece: a bronze plaque.
The plaque, designed to appear to be partially melted, reads:
“In memory of those who have fallen and with gratitude for those who serve, the citizens of Clallam County dedicate this monument to the brave men and women of public safety, September 11, 2001.
“Never forget September 11, 2001.”
Clallam County Sheriff Bill Benedict and Port Angeles Police Chief Terry Gallagher also attended Monday’s plaque installation.
“We’d like to say think you to the many people who made this possible,” Benedict and Gallagher said in a joint statement, on behalf of the public safety community, including law enforcement and firefighters.
“There are many other unsung heroes in public safety who are equally deserving of a thank you,” they said.
While there are no plans for a formal 9/11 memorial service at the site this year, Barnard said the public is invited to visit the memorial at noon today to recognize and remember the more than 2,996 individuals who died in the attacks.
Among the dead were 343 New York City firefighters and paramedics, 37 Port Authority of New York and New Jersey police officers and 23 officers from the New York Police Department.
In 2009, Andrew Moravec and Samuel Allen began their effort to bring the World Trade Center I-beam to Clallam County.
The monument was nearly completed in time for the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks.
Barnard, a managing broker at Windermere Real Estate in Port Angeles, founded the nonprofit Public Safety Tribute Committee to create monument.
In 2011, a ceremony in Sequim recognized the arrival of a steel plate from the World Trade Center wreckage.
The plate is currently in storage, but the city plans to include it in a memorial at the future Sequim Civic Center
There is no memorial planned in Sequim today because Clallam County Fire District No. 3 firefighters have been deployed to fight wildfires in Eastern Washington.
For the first time since 2002, Port Townsend will not hold a 9/11 memorial service, said Bill Beezley, spokesman for East Jefferson Fire-Rescue, which has sponsored observances in the past.
Flags will be at half-staff, and the department will be transitioning to an internal recognition and moment of service, Beezley said.
Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.
