Traveling Exhibit Brings Artifacts From 9/11 Rubble
May 23, 2019, 10:19 PM | Updated: 10:30 pm
WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah — Although it’s been nearly 18 years since September 11, 2001, Jacob Finch remembers exactly where he was and what he was doing when he learned of the deadliest attack on U.S. soil.
“I was getting ready for work, it was about 7:00 a.m. I just turned on the TV right when the second plane struck the tower,” Finch said.
Finch, like so many, recalls the moments after reality sunk in. For him it was a phone call he would never forget.
“I got a call from my recruiter saying ‘hey we’re going to get you going sooner than later so be ready to go’,” he said.
It was just days before that Finch had enlisted in the Air Force. After 9/11 he served our country for nearly three years.
“We do this to bring a part of the city to people who may not ever have the opportunity.”
At 10:00, see the items (found in the twin tower’s rubble) a travelling 9/11 exhibit brought to Utah @KSL5TV pic.twitter.com/NTBrrHWAIP— Ashley Moser (@AshleyMoser) May 24, 2019
Thursday night, he decided to bring his family to the “9-11 Never Forget Mobile Exhibit” put on by the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation to educate his children on the events that shaped his life.
“This is the one incident that America really came together as a whole and I think a lot of times now days we’ve kind of forgotten that,” Finch said. “I wanted them to be here and see that, you know, is what it’s all about.”
Billy Puckett, who drives the 53 foot trailer across the country, said so far he has helped educate the 350 thousand people since it opened in 2013.
“Our goal is to really explain what everybody went through and the devastation that happened,” Puckett said. “The reactions are all different. From the older generation it’s heartfelt, a lot of tears and from the younger generation it’s a lot of questions.”
He said through donations the foundation is able to get dozens of donated items, found in the rubble, to people who may never get to Manhattan.
“We do this to bring a part of the city to people who may not ever have the opportunity,” he said.
You can visit the exhibit through Wednesday at Centennial Park in West Valley City.
