The Daily Tar Heel
Printing news. Raising hell. Since 1893.
Friday, March 29, 2024 Newsletters Latest print issue

We keep you informed.

Help us keep going. Donate Today.
The Daily Tar Heel

FAYETTEVILLE — The nation’s first 9/11 mobile museum was unveiled in Fayetteville on Wednesday — the 12th anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001 — featuring artifacts from the tragedy, including pieces of the World Trade Center and pictures and audio from Ground Zero.

The Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation, a New York-based nonprofit, constructed the 53-foot long museum which carried donated memorabilia from the 9/11 attacks, including names of the people lost that day.

John Carroll, a retired New York City Fire Department battalion chief who aided people at Ground Zero on 9/11, said the museum’s purpose is to make sure people never forget the attack and the sacrifices made that day. Carroll is traveling with the museum and is a foundation advisory board member.

“Freedom’s really not free,” he said. “This is to keep awareness of what happened on 9/11 alive so people never forget and that they continue making sacrifices to keep this country as great as it is.”

Carroll said the foundation noticed that the post-9/11 generation isn’t being taught about the attacks in schools.

“As time goes on, people are just going to forget about it completely,” he said.

LaVern Oxendine , a Fayetteville resident who visited the mobile museum, said the Fort Bragg area is a good place for the museum to start because it reminds people why soldiers are currently overseas.

“This reminds us of why our soldiers are fighting in harm’s way over there in Iraq and Afghanistan and other places, especially in this city,” he said. “We have the largest base in the country here at Fort Bragg.”

Sgt. 1st Class James Fischer said he vividly remembers 9/11 but meeting firefighters who were at Ground Zero made him feel more connected to the event.

Other visitors said it was moving to see pieces of the World Trade Center.

“I just think it’s unbelievable to actually be able to touch a piece of the World Trade Center,” said Joshua Angelini, a resident of Fayetteville.

Foundation history

The foundation was created in honor of Stephen Siller, a firefighter who lost his life on 9/11. Foundation proceeds go to orphanages, burn centers and fire departments across the country.

Siller had just gotten off-duty and was on his way home when he heard over the fire department scanner that the first of the towers had been attacked. He immediately turned around to help.

On his way to the World Trade Center, Siller had to go through what was then called the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel, but it had been blocked off for safety reasons. He put on 60 pounds of gear and ran about two miles through the tunnel to help. He was killed in one of the tower collapses.

Siller’s family replicated his run and made a race out of it, which now attracts more than 35,000 runners, Carroll said.

Since then, the foundation has expanded to include Building for America’s Bravest, a program that raises funds to build “smart homes” for injured veterans, primarily those who are triple or quadruple veterans. These homes can be controlled by smart phones or other devices.

Carroll said the foundation decided to debut the museum in Fayetteville because they are building two such homes in the area. He said the museum will remain in Fayetteville until Saturday and then will head to Atlanta before returning to Raleigh from Sept. 17 to 21.

Currently, there is no end date for the museum’s tour, Carroll said.

“We’re going to keep this going for as long as we can,” he said.

state@dailytarheel.com

To get the day's news and headlines in your inbox each morning, sign up for our email newsletters.

Special Print Edition
The Daily Tar Heel's Collaborative Mental Health Edition