9/11 foundation adds bronze police statue to Grapevine memorial site

It’s been 14 years terrorists flew two airplanes into the World Trade Center in New York City, a tragic event that has been memorialized at the 9/11 Flight Crew Memorial to honor uniformed personnel that were lost that day.

The 9/11 Memorial Foundation Texas have been working over the years to honor and remember the victims who died on Sept. 11, 2001.

Almost 3,000 people, including hundreds of first responders, perished that day during terrorist attacks on the United States.

The foundation first created a bronze and granite memorial that paid tribute to the 33 flight crew members who were among the people killed when terrorists hijacked and crashed four planes.

Later, a bronze firefighter was added to the memorial.

And on Thursday, a ceremony was held there to unveil a bronze police officer.

“This is the last piece of the puzzle,” organizer Joe Luccioni said of the new piece that honors the 71 law enforcement officers and a rescue dog who died.

At the event, Grapevine Police Chief Eddie Salame spoke of the people who lost their lives in the service of others.

On July 4, 2008, the 9/11 Flight Crew Memorial that paid tribute to the flight crews who died in the 2001 tragedy was dedicated in Grapevine with nearly a thousand in attendance.

The ceremony was marked by the release of doves, a flyover by World War II airplanes in missing-man formation and a roll call of flight crews who perished.

The 9/11 Flight Crew Memorial Foundation donated the memorial as a gift to the city that incorporated the memorial into its parks system.

The bronze memorial initially had five figures: an airline captain, one hand on a globe as a symbol of the responsibility of the worldwide airline industry; a first officer holding an emergency manual and pointing to the western horizon, the destination of the four 9-11 flights; a female flight attendant, holding out one hand in a precautionary gesture and holding the child’s hand with her other; a male flight attendant, draping a blanket around the child; and a little girl symbolic of the traveling public.

The figures are 14 feet high and with the base stand 18 feet.

The memorial, which faces west on a compass rose, includes two eagles in flight, representing lost flights from American and United airlines.

The names of the crew members of the 9-11 flights are engraved on slabs of granite surrounding the base.

The memorial includes an iron beam from the World Trade Center, limestone from the Pentagon and stone from Shanksville, Pa.

An addition was made two years ago — a tribute to the 343 New York firefighters who died in their city that day.

That memorial features a bronze firefighter kneeling with his head bowed in reverence and a granite monolith with the names of the 343 fallen firefighters.

The police memorial features a police officer kneeling. It honors by name the 71 law enforcement officers who lost their lives in the attacks of 9/11: 37 Port Authority Police Officers; 23 New York Police Department Officers; an FBI agent; three NYS Office of Court Administration Officers; 5 were NYS Office of Taxation and Finance Officers; one U.S. Fish and Wildlife Officer and one Secret Service Agent.

In addition, one Rescue Dog by the name of “Sirius” was lost that day. His handler left him down in the basement while he went upstairs to check on the commotion and the tower collapsed as he exited.

“It was a beautiful day,” Luccioni said. “We can do the planning, but the event and the site take over.”

This story was originally published October 27, 2015 at 9:16 AM with the headline "9/11 foundation adds bronze police statue to Grapevine memorial site."