Carpentersville secures money, artifact for 9/11 memorial

Earlier this year, the Carpentersville Fire Department put out word that it needed $15,000 to pay for a memorial dedicated to local firefighters and to those who died in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Well, the department has met that goal — and then some.

To date, $18,118 in donations have poured into the village, putting the department more than $3,000 beyond its goal, Fire Chief John Schuldt said. Donations had been coming in steadily ever since the department embarked on the project.

“I thought it was phenomenal,” Schuldt said. “It’s phenomenal that I’ve got people from in town, people from out of town, people from out of state who read about it.”

Last week, the department also got its hands on an artifact from the World Trade Center for use in the memorial — a 5-foot-long piece of twisted and rusted metal with wires and an attached light fixture from one of the towers.

Schuldt had applied to get a piece of the World Trade Center in 2009 and learned earlier this year that the village was one of 900,000 successful applicants. The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey has since transferred ownership of the artifact to Carpentersville, and it represents a key part of the memorial that authorities hope to dedicate on the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks.

The memorial will feature a flagpole, two stone monuments displaying the words to the Fireman’s Prayer and the Last Alarm poem that honors fallen firefighters, as well as brick pavers in the shape of a Maltese cross, the fire service logo. A stone monument will hold a brass fire helmet, and the length of metal from the World Trade Center will pierce the monument.

Lastly, a nearby plaque will dedicate the memorial to firefighters who served Carpentersville throughout the 96 years of the department’s existence and to those people who lost their lives on Sept. 11. The department will use the surplus cash for the memorial’s maintenance.

Although Carpentersville didn’t lose any people to the terrorist attacks, the tragedy affected everyone. The memorial, therefore, is a small way to pay tribute to those who perished, Schuldt said.

Although she’s unemployed and should probably be saving every penny, the project inspired resident Julie Butters to become one of the memorial’s first donors.

For her, there was no better way to spend $2.

“I thought it was a good cause,” said Butters, also a park commission member. “It’s going to honor all those innocent people and the firemen who knew they were putting their lives at stake to rescue those people ... it takes a certain kind of person to give up your life for someone else.”