World Trade Center artifact on statewide display

Both Star11 (left) and UT6 (right) are cement blocks that were removed from the slurry wall at Ground Zero under the World Trade Center. The blocks were commissioned to be sculpted into finished forms of 9/11 memorial artwork. UT6 will be featured in the Utah Fallen Warrior Memorial at Fort Douglas Memorial Park. Star11 will become the showcase artifact at the American Fallen Warrior Memorial in Kansas City.

SALT LAKE CITY – Fort Douglas Military Museum, on the University of Utah campus, was selected as one of only two sites to receive a major artifact from one of the World Trade Center Towers at Ground Zero in New York City.

The artifact, dedicated to the memory of Utah’s Fallen Warriors, will be the centerpiece of the Fort Douglas Memorial Park, now under construction. The 4.5-ton, curved, concrete-aggregate, rock wall was originally buried seven stories beneath the ground to prevent flooding from the Hudson River.

 

Utahns throughout the state may see and feel  the power of the World Trade Center memorial artifact during an eighteen-city, statewide tour to begin in Logan Monday,  Sept. 23.

On Friday, Sept. 27, Mt. Pleasant residents will welcome its arrival with  a band, a choir, a contingent of Boy Scouts, finally concluding in a dramatic reading of the names of the area’s Fallen Warriors from the Black Hawk War to the present.

The statewide tour will culminate Friday, Oct. 4, in Vernal before returning to the Salt Lake Valley for three local appearances.

See the daily schedule for the statewide tour on page 2 of this release.

The wellspring of initiative in recruiting construction donations for the project is Raette Belcher, who has made it her mission to leave a monument of gratitude to those Utah soldiers, from World War I to the present, who courageously fought and died for this country.

According to Belcher, she was moved to undertake the project when she met several Gold Star mothers at a dinner.

“These were mothers whose sons or daughters had given their all in the fight against terrorism.  My heart was touched.”

Thus began her journey to help create a lasting memorial to all of Utah’s Fallen Warriors.

Here is daily schedule for the 18-day tour of the World Trade Center artifact:

  • Friday, Sept. 20 – Tour Kickoff at Fort Douglas, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

  • Saturday, Sept. 21 – Rice-Eccles Stadium, 2 to 4 p.m.

  • Monday, Sept. 23 – Logan Home Depot, 4 to 8 p.m.

  • Tuesday, Sept. 24 – St. George (Washington City) Home Depot, 4 to 8 p.m.

  • Wednesday, Sept. 25 – Cedar City Home Depot, 4 to 8 p.m.

  • Thursday, Sept. 26 – Richfield, 4 to 8 p.m.

  • Friday, Sept. 27 – Mt. Pleasant Utah National Guard Armory, 4 to 8 p.m.

  • Saturday, Sept. 28 – Park City, 4 to 8 p.m.

  • Sunday, Sept. 29 – Camp Williams Veterans Cemetery, Gold Star Mothers Commemoration, 2 to 5 p.m.

  • Monday, Sept. 30 – West Valley City, 4 to 8 p.m.

  • Tuesday, Oct. 1 – Blanding, 4 to 8 p.m.

  • Wednesday, Oct. 2 – Moab, 4 to 8 p.m.

  • Thursday, Oct. 3 – Price, 4 to 8 p.m.

  • Friday, Oct. 4 – Vernal, Uintah High School, 4 to 8 p.m.

  • Saturday, Oct. 5 – Magna, 4 to 8 p.m.

  • Sunday, Oct. 6 – Sandy Home Depot, 4 to 8 p.m.

  • Monday, Oct. 7 – Sandy, 4 to 8 p.m.

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