Solemn ceremony held for WTC steel in Pennsylvania

It is hard to imagine a wake for pieces of steel.

But late Wednesday in the Pennsylvania city of Coatesville, about 45 miles west of Philadelphia, the atmosphere was solemn and funereal as a convoy of 28 tractor-trailers drove through the streets and parked in the historic district.

Each carried massive metal remnants from the World Trade Center, steel that had been made in 1969 at the Lukens Steel Co. in Coatesville and was never expected to return.

"It is a heavy feeling because of the solemnness of the situation," Melinda Williams, a spokeswoman for the local Graystone Society, a historical preservation group, told Newsday in a telephone interview. "When you look at the steel and see how it is twisted, the memories of Sept. 11 are in your mind and it is really heartbreaking."

Some of the trucks were draped with flags over the loads and seemed as though they were carrying giant caskets, Williams said.

The trade center's steel remains are so-called steel trees, fork-like supports that were on the lower exterior of Tower One and survived the collapse of the structure. Since then, the steel was kept by the Port Authority at a hangar at Kennedy Airport, said agency spokesman Steve Coleman.

The steel was shipped Wednesday to Coatesville in a trip that took close to 10 hours, including a predawn convoy over the George Washington Bridge, where westbound traffic was delayed as the trucks crossed. The convoy arrived at around 4:30 p.m., according to Williams. Eventually the steel will become part of the National Iron and Steel Heritage Museum in Coatesville, where it will serve as an indoor centerpiece, she said.

The Port Authority is making similar steel remains available for memorials and museums to any organization that can foot the transportation bill. The charge for the Coatesville shipment is reported to be about $188,000, which local organizations will have to raise.

But money didn't seem to be on the minds of anyone who lined the streets of Coatesville, where Williams said a few of the old workers who helped shape the pieces watched the convoy park.

"It is extra emotional; this is something you didn't want back," Williams said.

As the trucks were parked before a special ceremony that was slated to begin late Wednesday, a few onlookers, some tearful, inched toward the vehicles to reach out and touch the more than 40-year-old metal.

"The feeling that is in the air is just, just very unusual," Williams said. "It is really like a funeral."