How did Stephen Siller Jr. spend his Father’s Day?
Hauling around a nearly 17,000-pound beam, remnants of the World Trade Center, to honor his father, Stephen Siller Sr., a New York City firefighter who died on 9/11 racing in to rescue victims following the deadliest terrorist attack in American history.
Siller’s remains were never recovered from the Ground Zero rubble, 1.6 million tons of twisted steel and concrete.
After learning about the attacks, Siller ran two miles through the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel with 80 pounds of gear on his back to the South Tower.
Siller Jr., 25, was only 9 months old when his father was killed on 9/11. But he’s committed to keeping his dad’s memory alive, and the lives of thousands of victims who died on that fateful day, by hauling a 16,900-pound, 21-foot beam from the South Tower on a cross-country tour to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
“My father’s body was never recovered, so who he is is ingrained in that steel,” Siller Jr. told the New York Post.
Steel Across America
Covering 10,500 miles and hitting 35 cities in 21 states, the Steel Across America tour will culminate back at Ground Zero on Sept. 11, 2026.
Siller Jr., transporting the large beam on a flatbed truck, will stop at Major League Baseball stadiums, national monuments, museums and other locations across the U.S. this summer.
“We’re sharing those stories of heroes, men like my father. And those stories are going to inspire the next generation yet again,” Siller Jr. said.
As the tour concludes on Sept. 11, Siller Jr. and his family plan to walk the same route as his father did 25 years earlier, bravely rushing into extreme danger from a firehouse in Park Slope, Brooklyn.
Siller Sr., 35, was actually off duty planning to meet up with his brothers to enjoy a day of golf when a call came over his radio that the towers had been hit.
“So, he turned his car around, went into his firehouse. When he got there, he realized his unit had already responded. So, he grabbed his gear, threw it in his truck, and started to drive to the World Trade Center. But they had every entryway into Manhattan shut down. You could not get in unless you were an emergency vehicle,” Siller Jr. said. “So, he parked his car outside the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel.”
Tour Provides Emotional Healing
Siller Jr. works for the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, an organization that provides support to family members of fallen veterans and first responders.
The organization is hosting the Steel Across America tour, which has made its way through several historic sites, including the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pa., and the Emma E. Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Fla., where President George W. Bush learned about the 9/11 attacks while reading to students.
“We had Andy Card there, who was the man who told Bush; he was his chief of staff. To be there with him and to see his reaction to that day. It was overwhelming,” Siller Jr. said. “We also had the teacher that was in the classroom. So, Andy came down and re-met with the teacher for the first time since September 11th. It was a heck of a reunion.”
At the tour’s first stop, Siller Jr. provided one New York City firefighter with an emotional reunion, of sorts.
“We had an FDNY firefighter whose whole unit was killed on September 11th. He was off duty that day. Everybody else in this house lost their lives. And he came to that steel, walked up to it. He started to break down. He was hugging it and crying. His friends…they’re a part of that steel,” Siller Jr. said. “It was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen…hugging the steel like he was hugging his friends.”
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