A piece of steel recovered from the World Trade Center arrived at Capital Health Medical Center – Hopewell Friday morning, escorted by Hopewell Valley police, firefighters and emergency medical personnel as the community marked 25 years since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
The artifact, which has traveled to different locations throughout the Hopewell Valley as a reminder of the nearly 3,000 lives lost on Sept. 11, 2001, will remain on display at the hospital for the next year. It spent the past year at Hopewell Borough Hall.
Before making the trip to the hospital, police, fire and EMS personnel gathered to review the procession and arrival before the emergency vehicles formed up for the trip to Capital Health.
The planning was precise: once the procession reached the hospital, emergency personnel were to enter through the main entrance and form ranks in the atrium while those responsible for the steel prepared the artifact for its ceremonial entrance.
At Capital Health, employees and visitors packed the hospital’s main atrium, lining the ground floor and several levels of balconies above as the police department’s honor guard entered and members of the fire service carried the steel into the building.
The artifact was placed in the main lobby, where it will remain a public reminder of the attacks and those who responded.
A responsibility to remember
Michael Chipowsky, chairman of the Hopewell Valley 9/11 and Emergency Services Memorial Committee and a retired township police chief, began the ceremony by recounting the timeline of Sept. 11 — from the first plane striking the World Trade Center’s North Tower at 8:46 a.m. through the collapse of the North Tower at 10:28 a.m.
But on the 25th anniversary, Chipowsky also spoke about a changing responsibility for those who remember the day firsthand.
“Today, thirty percent of our country’s population was not born or were too young to remember the events of that day, twenty-five years ago,” Chipowsky said. “It is our duty to educate those who do not remember” and ensure the events are never forgotten.
For those old enough to remember, he said, the images remain vivid.
“We of a certain age remember vividly where we were when we learned of the attacks, our Pearl Harbor,” Chipowsky said, recalling how Americans watched the events unfold live on television and, from some places in New Jersey, could see smoke rising from the World Trade Center site.
He also recalled the unity that followed the attacks and formally entrusted the artifact to Capital Health for the coming year.
“Today, we place this sacred artifact into your care, with the hope that all who pass will stop, look, and always remember,” Chipowsky said.
Service connects first responders and health care workers
Capital Health President and CEO Al Maghazehe accepted the artifact on behalf of the hospital, calling it “a powerful symbol of remembrance, resilience, and hope.”
Maghazehe thanked the Hopewell Valley emergency services community and said the steel would provide an opportunity for hospital employees, patients and visitors to reflect on the lives lost and sacrifices made 25 years ago.
He also drew a connection between the first responders who rushed toward danger on Sept. 11 and the work of those gathered inside the hospital.
“As a healthcare organization, we understand the importance of service, compassion, and responding when people need us most,” Maghazehe said. “The actions of first responders remind us of the responsibility we all share to care for one another, especially during the moments of crisis and uncertainty.”
Maghazehe called on those gathered to honor the victims by carrying forward the values that emerged in the aftermath of the attacks: “service, kindness, courage, and community.”
“May we never forget the lives taken, the heroes who responded, and the lessons that continue to guide us 25 years later,” he said.
After the ceremony concluded, Capital Health employees gathered around the display, taking photographs and stopping for a closer look at the weathered piece of steel now entrusted to the hospital for the next year.
The artifact’s arrival at Capital Health is one part of the Hopewell Valley’s observance of the 25th anniversary. On Thursday evening, more than 100 volunteers placed American flags across the grounds at Woolsey Park in preparation for the Hopewell Valley 9/11 Remembrance Ceremony, which will be held Saturday at 11 a.m.
The permanent memorial at Woolsey Park includes another, larger piece of World Trade Center steel.
