The “Last Column” left standing at Ground Zero — which became an enduring symbol of New York’s resilience and grief in the days after the 9/11 attacks — was returned to the World Trade Center site early yesterday to take its place as a permanent memorial.
The 58-ton, 36-foot-tall steel beam — adorned with spray-painted messages honoring the first responders killed in the attacks, firehouse patches, union stickers and police logos — was lifted by crane back to Ground Zero, where it will become the centerpiece of the planned National September 11 Memorial & Museum.
“I spent nine months in recovery after losing my son. Seeing the column taken out was a happy-sad day. Now that it is going up, it shows the world our strength,” said retired firefighter Lee Ielpi, who lost his firefighter son, Jonathan, on 9/11.
“I also lost 80 to 100 good friends. I’m proud of all of them,” he added, wiping away a tear.
The column, officially No. 1001B of 2 World Trade Center, had been in storage at Kennedy Airport since it was removed in a solemn ceremony on May 30, 2002, to mark the end of recovery efforts at Ground Zero.
The coded shorthand on the column recorded the number of uniformed service members killed — PAPD37 for the 37 Port Authority Police Department officers, NYPD 23 for the 23 city cops, and FDNY 343 for the 343 city firefighters.
PAPD Lt. John Ryan was awestruck that the column was being placed almost exactly where six fellow PAPD officers perished as they attempted to evacuate a woman.
“It’s kind of eerie that it’s in almost the identical location,” said Ryan, a 30-year veteran who escorted the column on its return. “It is as if they looked down from above and said, ‘This is the best place.’ ”
The sight of the “Last Column” moved the director of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, too.
“To spend years imagining this museum and to see it come to life as a monument, to see the steel brought back as a memorial to those who perished, it all feels very emotional,” said Alice Greenwald.
The memorial is scheduled to open on Sept. 11, 2011, and the museum in 2012.