FEMA Head Dedicates 9/11 Firefighter Memorial Sculpture

EMMITSBURG, Md. (AP) _ A bronze-and-steel sculpture of three New York City firefighters raising the U.S. flag amid the ruins of the World Trade Center is a reminder to ``never give up,'' the head

Monday, November 5th 2007, 8:23 pm

By: News On 6

EMMITSBURG, Md. (AP) _ A bronze-and-steel sculpture of three New York City firefighters raising the U.S. flag amid the ruins of the World Trade Center is a reminder to ``never give up,'' the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency said Monday at a dedication ceremony.

The 40-foot-high memorial, based on a newspaper photograph from Sept. 11, 2001, was unveiled at the National Emergency Training Center, about 80 miles north of Washington.

The three firefighters photographed by Thomas E. Franklin of The Record of Bergen County, N.J., attaching the banner to a metal pole ``were sending a message to each of us that we are never going to give up as a nation,'' said FEMA Administrator R. David Paulison.

``This monument is saying we will never forget and we are never, ever, ever going to give up,'' Paulison said.

Dedicated to the nation's fallen firefighters, including 343 New York Fire Department workers who died trying to rescue victims of the terrorist attacks, the sculpture by Stanley Watts of Utah is called ``To Lift a Nation.'' It stands near the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial on a picturesque campus visited annually by 17,000 emergency response workers and administrators from around the world.

Bill Eisengrein, one of the three men depicted in the sculpture, and family members of 14 fallen firefighters attended the ceremony.

Maureen Santora, who lost her son Christopher in the collapsed towers, said she has a framed copy of the flag-raising picture in her home and was pleased with the sculpture. ``It's a beautiful, beautiful tribute,'' she said.