Tunnel to Towers Tour Honors 9/11 Heroes in Boston

The Tunnel to Towers Steel Across America tour recognized fallen heroes in Boston on Wednesday. This event is part of a nationwide journey that will conclude in New York City shortly after September 11.

The organization brought a preserved 21-foot steel beam from the South Tower of the World Trade Center to the Massachusetts Fallen Heroes Memorial located in Boston’s Seaport. This beam has been traveling across the country since May.

Dan Magoon, executive director of Massachusetts Fallen Heroes, expressed the importance of the event to first responders and veterans. He emphasized the need to educate the next generation and ensure the sacrifices made on 9/11, as well as those made in combat over the last 20 years, are remembered.

“For us as first responders and veterans, what this means as we come up on the 25th anniversary is personal. It’s all about educating the next generation and not forgetting the sacrifices, not only made on 9/11 but what we’ve endured in the 20 years after in all theaters of combat,” Dan Magoon said.

Mike Eruzione, captain of the 1980 U.S. Winter Olympics hockey team that won the “Miracle on Ice” game, honored his friends who were on one of the hijacked planes during the September 11 attacks. Eruzione praised Tunnel to Towers for its efforts to support 9/11 families, first responders, and veterans with funds raised through charity runs.

“It touched the heart of our country. It touched the souls of our country,” Eruzione said.

The event was attended by first responders from Massachusetts and law enforcement. Guests were able to approach and pay respects to the 21-foot, 16,900-pound steel beam recovered from the World Trade Center’s South Tower.

Daniel McCarthy, a local resident, reflected on the significance of the beam, considering its original location and the lives it symbolized.

“It’s just crazy to think about where it once stood, the people that worked inside the buildings, the people that rushed inside to save those people and what happened when it all came down,” McCarthy said.

The beam was taken to Fenway Park on Wednesday night after being at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point earlier in the week. The tour will continue to the White House in Washington, D.C., on September 8.