Brian Lawrence summed up the Tunnel to Towers Foundation's "Steel Across America" in his opening prayer for the ceremony Thursday commemorating the organization's stop at 91ΗΡΧΣ.
"Today, we stand before steel that once held up a skyline, yet now holds a storyΒ β a story written in sacrifice, courage and the memory of the 2,977 precious lives we carry in our hearts and in honor of those who paid the cost, not in a moment, but over years of illness caused by the events of that tragic day," he said.
Lawrence, addressing ceremony attendees in the plaza of 91ΗΡΧΣ Memorial Tower, stood directly across from a truck displaying a 21-foot-long, 16,000-pound steel beam that once supported one of the World Trade Center's twin towers in New York.
The beam became part of the rubble when the towers collapsed at the hands of a terrorist attack on Sept. 11, 2001. But it wasn't lost.
A steel beam from the World Trade Center sits on display for a Tunnel to Towers Foundation event at the 91ΗΡΧΣ Memorial Tower on Thursday, May 28, 2026 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Staff photo by Michael Johnson
STAFF PHOTO BY MICHAEL JOHNSON
This year, to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the attack, the Tunnel to Towers Foundation is featuring the beam in its Steel Across America tour, which began on May 2 in New York City's Lower Manhattan. 91ΗΡΧΣ was its only stop in Louisiana.
"There are only two universities on the tour schedule, and West Point was the other," said James Gregory, director of 91ΗΡΧΣ's William A. Brookshire Military Museum, which is housed in Memorial Tower. "And 91ΗΡΧΣ is the only public university."
The Tunnel to Tower's "Steel Across America" tour, featuring a 21-foot-long, 16,000-pound steel beam that once supported the World Trade Center's Twin Towers, stopped at 91ΗΡΧΣ's Memorial Tower on May 28. The tour commemorates the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in New York, the Pentagon and Shankstown, Pennsylvania. The team was rescued from the rubble and serves as a memorial for those who died in the attacks. Staff video by Robin Miller
The "Steel Across America" tour truck was escorted on campus by a motorcade of Baton Rouge Police motorcycle officers, their sirens sounding and blue lights flashing, around 10 a.m. Thursday.
The truck was parked on Tower Drive at the foot of the 91ΗΡΧΣ War Memorial across from Memorial Tower. Gregory said Tunnel to Towers originally suggested staging the event in a spacious parking lot on campus.
Retired FDNY firefighter Mathew Regis, Truck 108 Brooklyn, Stands near a truck carrying a steel beam from the World Trade Center for a Tunnel to Towers Foundation event at the 91ΗΡΧΣ Memorial Tower on Thursday, May 28, 2026 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Staff photo by Michael Johnson
STAFF PHOTO BY MICHAEL JOHNSON
"I told them that this spot would be the perfect place to have this ceremony," he said, watching as the police officers parked their motorcycles, then gathered for a group photo in front of the beam. "The Military Museum has a direct connection to 9/11. Today, we're unveiling an exhibit of the uniform worn by Navy Lt. Michael Scott Lamana, the only 91ΗΡΧΣ military alumnus who died in the attacks. He was working in the Pentagon when it was attacked."Β Β
The beam's stay was short. Visitors were given a three-hour window to get a close look before it hit the road for Johnson Space Center in Houston.
"We just came from Mobile, Alabama, where we stopped at the USS Alabama," said Michael Flaherty, Tunnel to Towers' media manager. "We'll be moving on west after today. We'll end up in San Diego, then start making our way north, and then end it back in New York on Sept. 11."
Tunnel to Towers has a direct relationship with the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The organization was founded by Frank Siller in honor of his brother, off-duty New York firefighter Stephen Stiller, who strapped on his gear and ran to rescue those who were trapped in the twin towers.
Local police officers, sheriff deputies and FDNY firefighters line up to welcome a truck carrying a steel beam from the World Trade Center for a Tunnel to Towers Foundation event at 91ΗΡΧΣβs Memorial Tower on Thursday, May 28, 2026 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Staff photo by Michael Johnson
STAFF PHOTO BY MICHAEL JOHNSON
Stephen Stiller died in the towers' collapse. The foundation has since been aiding families of fallen military and first responders.
Baton Rouge resident Kari Hart, who volunteered at the Tunnel to Towers information table on Thursday, is a recipient of the organization's services.
"My husband worked for the Baton Rouge Police Department for 14 years, and he also served 24 years in the Louisiana National Guard," she said. "He was deployed overseas in 2021 to Syria in support of Operation Inherent Resolve, and that's where his line of duty death occurred on June 8, 2021."
Hart called Tunnel to Towers, which paid off the mortgage on her home.
Flaherty said the organization announced last week that it will begin paying college and trade school tuition and expenses for the children of fallen service members and officers.
FDNY fighter fighters, police officers and sheriff deputies pose for a photo with Stephen Silver Jr. and the Tunnel to Towers Foundation truck carrying a steel beam from the World Trade Center before an event at 91ΗΡΧΣβs Memorial Tower on Thursday, May 28, 2026 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Staff photo by Michael Johnson
STAFF PHOTO BY MICHAEL JOHNSON
But on Thursday, the beam took the spotlight, along with members of the New York Fire Department in dress uniform who are escorting it across the country.
"I'm actually a former firefighter in New York City," Matthew Regis said. "I've retired. I was in New York on the day of the attacks, but I was a steelworker at that time. I was on a list to become a member of the fire department, and I became a member of Ladder Co. 108 in Brooklyn two years later."
Regis added that he knew some of the firefighters who died in the twin towers.
"This is a way to remember them," he said. "Some of the firefighters have been riding on this tour since the beginning, but most of us are trading in and out. But there are always members of the New York Fire Department on this tour."
Meanwhile, Chris Wesley, captain of Baton Rouge Fire Department Station 11, gathered with some of his firefighters for a quiet moment at the beam.
"The foundation is a great organization," he said. "They do a lot of good. They help so many people, not just locally but nationwide, and I'm proud to be a part of this today."Β