A 9/11 memorial ceremony at a fire station in Federal Way, Washington, has marked 25 years since the attacks with a tribute to the 2,977 people killed and a reminder of the duty to preserve their memory.
South King Fire held its annual service at Station 64 on Friday, 11 September, where members of the public, firefighters, police officers and military veterans gathered around a memorial containing authentic artefacts from all three crash sites.
“It’s hard to capture in words the magnitude and essence of what happened on September 11, 2001,” said South King Fire Chief Ryan Woodey.
Federal Way memorial brings together artefacts from three sites
The outdoor memorial includes a 12ft steel beam from the World Trade Centre in New York, a stone recovered from the field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where United Airlines Flight 93 crashed, and a section of limestone from the Pentagon in Washington DC.
A black granite wall bears the names of every victim, including 343 firefighters and 60 law enforcement officers who died while responding to the attacks.
Federal Way Police Chief Andy Hwang told the ceremony: “The spirit of September 11 didn’t end 25 years ago. It lives on every single day in every firefighter, every police officer, every paramedic, every dispatcher, every member of our armed forces and every citizen who answers the call to serve someone else.”
The memorial was made possible in part through the efforts of retired South King firefighter Sven Schievink, who grew up in New York and said he lost 20 friends at the World Trade Centre.
After requesting a section of structural steel from the Port Authority, Schievink waited about a decade before South King Fire was told in 2011 that its request had been approved. He and another retired firefighter then drove across the United States with a donated trailer to collect the 1,216lb beam, stopping at Shanksville and the Pentagon along the way.
“It was an emotional trip,” Schievink said. “Now, it’s more about remembering my friends, but it’s also about the people who have died since then.”
Tribute aims to keep 9/11 memory alive
Army veteran Kevin Wilson attended the ceremony with his wife, Sarah. Wilson, who is losing his sight and belongs to the Blinded Veterans Association, completed a 1,500-mile journey along the 9/11 National Memorial Trail with his guide dog in 2022.
He said the journey had reinforced the importance of teaching younger generations about the attacks, after meeting a woman at the Flight 93 memorial whose university friends knew little about what had happened.
Sarah Wilson said children should understand why so many people still remember exactly where they were when the attacks took place.
“Just making sure that our kids remember what happened, so it doesn’t get lost in future generations,” she said.
Chief Hwang described the phrase “Never Forget” as a responsibility rather than a slogan, saying it meant honouring those who sacrificed themselves for strangers and passing the memory on to the next generation.
Inside Station 64, visitors can also see photographs, personal belongings and oral histories connected to 9/11 and other disasters, including the 2014 Oso mudslide. The station houses one of only two known original prints of a photograph commemorating the 343 firefighters killed in the attacks; the other is at FDNY headquarters in New York.
The South King Fire 9/11 Memorial at Station 64, 3700 South 320th Street, Federal Way, is open to the public throughout the year for self-guided visits and reflection.
