Quogue 9/11 Memorial: Helping The Community to Remember Lives Lost

In front of the Quogue Village Fire House on Long Island, a 1,600-pound section of a steel beam is tilted toward the southern tip of Manhattan.

The beam, part of a planned memorial that will include benches, pavers, lights and landscaping, serves to remind members of the volunteer fire department of what happened on September 11 and help them remember those who lost their lives in the call of duty.

Chris Osborne, the village code enforcement and court officer, who spent two years doing paperwork to secure the beam, still chokes up when recounting the day in May when members went to Hanger 17 at Kennedy Airport to pick it up and drive it home on a flat bed covered in the American flag.

“The amazing thing to me was coming home,” he said. “People would stop; people would salute, slow down. They just knew.”

This small village of 1,100, an hour and a half east of Manhattan, was touched by the tragedy as residents lost family members who worked in the twin towers. The fire department now has as members a former New York City fireman and the father of a current NYC fireman.

The memorial was funded by a $20,000 grant from the village, and Osborne expects donations will be able to pay that back and then some.

“This was easy to do in a small community like this,” he said. “Someplace bigger, it would be harder.”