Sept. 11 exhibit travels to help others remember

In the photographs 7-year-old Jacob Delgado looked over on Saturday, people stood in silent horror, mouths open, hands slapped against faces, bodies painted sooty black with grime or chalky white with ash or shocking red with blood.

The photos of Sept. 11 have always been a reality for Delgado. He was 7 months old when his father, then-Battlion Chief Gary Pozzi, returned from a mission to help in the rescue effort and spread grisly photos of the aftermath on the kitchen table.

Still, his grandmother and mother, Alice Pitts and Lisa Frieders, thought it was important to pause and pay tribute Saturday at the traveling September 11 Memorial and Museum exhibition, which makes its only Illinois stop in Aurora this weekend.

"I never want him to forget this," said Frieders of North Aurora. "It's a good feeling to be here."

The display includes photographs, artifacts, films, and testimony by survivors. Visitors can also sign a tall, white beam that will be part of the permanent memorial.

The event continues today from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Aurora Transportation Center, 233 N. Broadway, as part of a national effort to raise money for the New York Sept. 11 memorial.

"September 11 wasn't just a New York thing," said Winnetka native Keating Crown, a 9/11 survivor and National September 11 Memorial and Museum board member. "It touches people from all over the world."

Crown was working for Chicago-based Aeon Corp. on the 100th Floor of the South World Trade Center Tower when the first plan hit the North tower.

By the time the second plane hit the South Tower, he was among a stream of people making their way down the staircase. While people around him died, he survived with a broken leg and injuries.

"I was very lucky, due to the help of first responders," Crown said. "It's important that we remember them because if something like this happens in Aurora or Chicago, the first responders here today would be the ones rushing to help us."

When it was his turn, Warrenville resident Cody Prutell, 11, wrote "we pray for you," on the beam that will be part of the memorial.

"Who are all these people?" he asked, gazing the rows of scribbled signatures lining the tall white beam that will be part of the memorial.

"People from all over the world," answered his godfather, Earl Hoehn of Oswego. "Put your hand up there. Let's take a picture."

This is history, Hoehn told Prutell -- but we must remember.