Son Transports 16,900-Pound Steel Beam From World Trade Center Across U.S.

Stephen Siller Jr. is transporting a 16,900-pound steel beam recovered from the South Tower of the World Trade Center across the United States on a flatbed truck. The beam measures more than 21 feet in length.

The tour, called Steel Across America, began in May and will cover 10,500 miles through more than 35 cities in 21 states. Stops include national monuments, museums, memorials, and MLB stadiums. The tour is scheduled to conclude at Ground Zero on September 11 to mark the 25th anniversary of the attacks.

25, is the son of FDNY firefighter Stephen Siller, who served with Squad 1 in Park Slope, Brooklyn. The elder Siller was killed on September 11, 2001. Siller Jr. was nine months old when his father died.

He now lives on Staten Island and is the father of five children. He works full-time for the Tunnel to Towers Foundation. The foundation was created by Frank Siller in honor of Stephen Siller. It hosts the current tour.

On September 11, 2001, Stephen Siller was off duty and driving to play golf when he heard the radio call. He parked his car outside the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel and ran two miles through the tunnel carrying 80 pounds of gear to reach the South Tower. “My father’s body was never recovered, so who he is ingrained in that steel,” Siller Jr.

Said. The tour has stopped at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and at the Emma E. Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Florida. Siller Jr. said the tour shares stories of heroes like his father to inspire the next generation.

He described one stop where an off-duty FDNY firefighter whose entire unit was killed approached the beam, broke down, and hugged it. “We’re sharing those stories of heroes, men like my father,” Siller Jr. told the New York Post.