six years six months

For the first five years after 9/11, firefighter Aron Safell marked the anniversary by erecting 343 crosses on the lawn outside his firehouse in Garland, Texas. He displayed the crosses for the final time in 2006 and sent me several photos which I posted on my blog. Each cross had the name of a firefighter, including my cousin Terry Hatton, who died at the World Trade Center. Aron has kindly offered to send nameplate photos to the families of any of the firefighters lost in the line of duty that day.



In November, the Garland Fire Department opened a new administration and training facility. Let me have Aron continue the story by quoting his email:

The chief asked for any memorabilia to go into the display area. I wanted the "Cross for a Brother" memorial to somehow fit into this. I removed all the nameplates from the crosses and pitched a few ideas to the chiefs. An office Captain and I came up with an idea and sent it off to a trophy company. What a memorial! They used all the original nameplates and created the Twin Towers memorial for the front area of the FD administration offices.