Articles by Josh Lange

By Joshua Lange

September 11, 2001, is a somber anniversary, 25 years since the deadliest terrorist attack in American history. While the targets of the attack were the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a third unknown destination in Washington, D.C. with Flight 93, 9/11 represented an attack on the entire country. American history is now defined as pre-9/11 and post-9/11 as it changed our lives forever. I was just a baby when it happened, so I have no recollection of a pre-9/11 world.

As a volunteer with the Mishawaka Historical Museum, I understand how crucial physical objects are to convey the significance of history. One can read about something historic, but when one sees a tangible link to the past, one starts to sense the gravity of the situation. After the towers fell in New York, and the Pentagon fire was extinguished in Arlington, Virginia, there were millions of tons of rubble, and the government knew it would not be right to immediately put this rubble in landfills as it represented the final resting places of 2,977 victims.

Thousands of pieces from the sites of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were sent across the United States over the course of a decade to create memorials and educational exhibits of the worst day in American history. Even in Mishawaka, there are physical reminders of 9/11.

Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center has a memorial in its lobby remembering 9/11 with a three-ton steel column of the North Tower of the World Trade Center that was gifted by the New York-New Jersey Port Authority on September 15, 2011. The memorial was made possible by former Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center CEO, Albert Gutierrez. The exhibit says, “Our piece of the Twin Towers was part of the underground parking garage framing, specifically it was one of the columns that supported the floors of the parking garage. The steel channels connected to the column were part of the shear connection between the floor slabs and the columns. These were needed to prevent the concrete slabs from shearing off and sliding down the columns.”

9/11 Memorial inside of Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center

Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center is not the only place in Mishawaka to have a piece of the World Trade Center. Built in 2012 and opened in January of 2013, Fire Station No. 4 on Harrison Road has its own small exhibit honoring the lives of the victims of September 11^th attacks. In the lobby, a wooden pedestal with a glass casing has two small metal fragments with a television monitor above listing the 2,977 names of the fallen. The plaque reads, “These two pieces of steel were salvaged from the site of the North Tower of the World Trade Center. These objects honor the memory of those brave and innocent people who perished that day in New York, The Pentagon, and Shanksville, PA. This display is the collaboration between Saint Joseph Health Systems and the Mishawaka Fire Department.”

This means the pieces of steel at Station No. 4 are in fact fragments from the three-ton steel column at Saint Joseph Hospital. I spoke to Mishawaka firefighter and Assistant Chief of Operations, Dave Bennett, who explained that the Mishawaka Fire Department holds a yearly ceremony to honor the fallen firefighters, police officers, and victims of 9/11 at Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center. He also mentioned that it is important to honor the memories of the victims, as each year, we get further from 2001. “A lot of new recruits in our department were born years after September 11, 2001,” said Bennett.

9/11 Display inside of Fire Station No.4

Battell Park has the Veterans Walkway featuring panels of major conflicts in American history. One of the glass panels represents the War on Terror with the beginning mentioning 9/11. In the wake of 9/11, Mishawakans enlisted in the armed forces to stop terrorists from ever committing such a horrific act ever again. The base of the panel has a photo and a biography of one of those Mishawakans who gave the ultimate sacrifice in the War on Terror: Tech Sgt. Ryan Balmer, who was killed in Iraq on June 5, 2007. American Legion Post 161 on Mishawaka Avenue was named in his honor.

Battell Park Veterans Walkway

While no Mishawakans were killed in 9/11, there is a memorial dedicated to a local victim located at Saint Joseph Memorial Park in Mishawaka: South Bend native Katie McCloskey. Her monument dedicated in 2002 reads, “Katie Marie McCloskey was born and raised in South Bend, Indiana, attended St. Anthony’s Grade School and graduated from John Adams High School in 1994. She was a good student and played on the varsity volleyball and tennis teams. After graduating in December 1998 from Indiana University in Elementary Education and Computer Science, she worked in Indianapolis for two years. In March 2001 Katie packed all her worldly possessions, including her dog, Spencer, into her red Mustang convertible and followed her dream to live in New York City. In July 2001 she began working on the 97th floor of Tower 1 of the World Trade Center. She loved her work and her high-flying office. She took a picture of herself at her desk with the Statue of Liberty in the background over her shoulder. Katie was at her desk on the morning of September 11, 2001, when the first plane hit Tower 1. At age 25 she became one of the many who died in that attack. Katie remained close to many of her friends from grade school, high school, and college. She was especially close to her family, where she was the family comedian. She was independent and adventurous, a certified scuba diver along with her dad, brother, and sister. She loved to fly in light airplanes with her pilot father. She was in love with life and spread that love and enthusiasm to everyone she met.”

Katie McCloskey Memorial in Mishawaka

While the East Coast was the site of the attacks that fateful day, the victims were from 27 different states and 102 countries. These monuments are crucial for preserving the memories of the 2,977 victims like Katie McCloskey and for looking back at the worst terrorist attack in American history to make sure something of that magnitude never happens again. That is why the New York-New Jersey Port Authority sent thousands of pieces of the World Trade Center across America like the ones displayed at Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center and Fire Station No. 4.