Deputy Chief of the Princeton Fire Department Roy James has been working to obtain a piece of steel from the WTC for Princeton since last fall. His efforts paid off the morning of March 24, when James and an escort of around 200 motorcycles accompanied the steel beam from a firehouse in Brooklyn to Borough Hall.
“I wanted to make sure we were honoring everyone who passed away due to the horrific doings of others that day,” James said. “I wanted to incorporate everyone.”
Representatives from the local fire and police squads such as the Princeton First Aid and Rescue Squad, the University’s Department of Public Safety and the Princeton Fire Department took part in the escort, alongside officers from the Port Authority, the New York Police Department and the Fire Department of New York.
Michael Michalski, an Iraq War veteran from the Marine Corps, was one of the two Public Safety officers who participated in the escort.
“This event will remain as one of the greatest days of my career in Princeton,” Michalski said in an email. “To have the opportunity to represent Princeton University in the memorial of the fallen from 9/11 means more to me than I can ever express.”
The steel traveled from its Brooklyn home at the Friends of Firefighters house through Staten Island and down into New Jersey. New York and New Jersey state and local police arranged road and bridge closings along the route.
“It was the most amazing thing,” James recalls. “You look out your rearview mirror, and all you see is motorcycles on motorcycles on motorcycles, with police and fire squads saluting you on your way.”
James explained that it was an emotional event for him, as his wife had happened to be at home on maternity leave from her Wall Street job on the day the planes hit the North and South Towers. As a member of the Red Knights, an international motorcycle club for firefighters, James has been on several 9/11 memorial rides. It was through a fellow Red Knights member that James got the idea for a town 9/11 memorial.
With the steel transported to Princeton, it now falls upon James to raise the money to construct the monument.
“There’s a space right in front of the [Princeton Battle Monument] at the Borough Hall that we think would just be perfect,” James said.
James has enlisted the help of local architect and fellow firefighter Kyle Rendall to help with the project. He said he believes the project will cost around $250,000, which he added that he hopes to obtain from the Borough and through private donations.
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