CALGARY – It’s a day when everyone remembers exactly where they were.
U.S. Consul General Laura Lochman was in Madrid, working at the American embassy in Spain.
Mayor Naheed Nenshi was heading to his first city council meeting in Calgary.
And Beth Kapp, she was aboard a plane on the Chicago airport tarmac, waiting to fly home to her family in Hershey, Penn.
Over the aircraft speakers, she heard there was an emergency. Everyone was taken off the plane. It took her two hours to find out what happened on Sept. 11, 2001.
By then, the two towers of the World Trade Center had collapsed.
Seven days later, she was finally able to hug her husband, Raef, before immediately heading to Ground Zero and volunteering as a massage therapist.
Kapp moved to Calgary last year.
On Sunday she remembered the tragic events of a decade ago.
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“I really needed to be here,” said the American, proudly wearing a shirt commemorating 9/11, while her husband wore his army fatigues.
At the Military Museums on Sunday, she wept openly when she touched a 1,277-kilogram piece of steel used in the exterior wall of the World Trade Center.
“It feels like I have family here because I see that they are opening their arms to history of the U.S. and now it’s history of Canada,” she said. “To have such good neighbours like that, I feel like I’m at home.”
The piece of steel was given as a gift to the museum from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
Terry Rock, the president and chief executive of the Calgary Arts Development, said it will take about two years until the piece of steel is moved into its final resting place.
The mayor spoke of the importance of the gift.
“Having the artifact here at the Military Museums is a constant reminder to us that even out of that horrible day, something good has come and we can remember that and we can be proud of that,” Nenshi said.
He and Kapp were joined by about 200 other Calgarians and dignitaries at the unveiling to remember the nearly 3,000 lives lost – including 24 Canadians.
One dignitary was retired Staff Sgt. Neil Murray, a police officer who travelled to Ground Zero six months after the initial attack.
“What was tough this morning was watching some of the coverage on TV,” said Murray, who spent time working with the NYPD in the peer support team. “Even though I watched bits and pieces over the last week, it didn’t have the same impact that today had.
“It was emotional, but today was easy since I was given the opportunity to share with people what I felt, what I saw, what I heard so they understood it went beyond the images on TV.”
Before the memorial at the museum, there was a pancake breakfast at the Forest Heights Fire Station in honour of the emergency services first responders and members of the Canadian Forces.
“It’s an emotional day,” Nenshi said. “It’s a good day to reflect back on what has changed but always on the values that were true then and are true now that Canada helps their friends and neighbours.”
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