CARLISLE, Pa. — Those old enough remember where they were that day.
“I was at work,” said Amy Meyers of Carlisle, who worked in human resources at the time. “The one gentleman, Daryl, came over to me and was like, ‘Come over. You gotta’ see what’s going on.’ And as we were watching it we saw the second plane hit the other tower. And we just fell silent.”
Twenty years later, Meyers is president of Union Fire Company. Now she wants those too young to remember that day to learn about it.
“It’s a lot different now than it was back then. A lot of the young folks won’t understand that. They have no knowledge, no appreciation,” she said.
Union Fire Company is building a long-planned 9/11 memorial to honor victims and fallen firefighters. The building next to the fire station was demolished this week to make way for a park.
The memorial that Meyers has been instrumental in creating will honor the 343 firefighters who died when the Twin Towers collapsed on Sept. 11, 2001. Two Carlisle firefighters who have died in the line of duty since the station opened in 1789 will also be honored.
“The hope is that people understand what firefighters do,” Meyers said.
The park will include a piece of steel beam from the World Trade Center and a fire hydrant from Station No. 10 of New York City. Both were given to Union Fire Company by New York’s Port Authority in 2011.
The memorial is expected to open in spring 2022.