2006PressArticles

Lt. Chester A. Weekes (PAPD Ret.)

NEWS ARTICLES ABOUT THE TRAVELING MEMORIAL

9-11

Traveling Memorial

Article published May 2, 2006

Traveling memorial brings memories of 9/11

By Eugene Sutherland

esutherland@thetowntalk.com

(318) 487-6380

The battered doors of a police car cut a striking image next to the authentic jackets of New York firefighters and hundreds of images of New York’s former World Trade Center and Battery Park.

The continuous playing of a bagpipe-driven “Amazing Grace” provide a near tangible air of respect and sadness. It is funereal.

In the end, the memorial sponsored by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police is really about the names.

Name after name, each holds its own story, its own tragedy – stories of public servants, stories of people who happened to be on the wrong flight or in the wrong office building on Sept. 11, 2001.

The names are what the World Trade Center Traveling Memorial are built upon. Those attending Monday, the first day of a four-day showing of the memorial at the Alexandria Riverfront Center said as much.

Mary Lachney of Hessmer was overwhelmed at times, to the point of tears. Her husband, Earlis, was just as moved, taking in the scene in silence.

“It brings it all back, like it just happened,” Mary Lachney said. “I still remember what I was doing. You never think something so tragic can happen. All those people. It makes you wonder if it will happen again.”

Among the images seen during a tour of the memorial were photos of police and firefighters covered in ash, and at times blood, aiding the rescue of civilians.

The exhibit also features a large mirror featuring the names of Port Authority and New York City police lost in the Trade Center’s collapse. Beneath the names appear the words “All gave some and some gave all.”

Gazing upon the mirror with her two children was Mollie Troiano of Shreveport. When 5-year-old Taylor asked, his mother said, “These are the names of the men who passed away.” Eight-month-old Skyler was also in tow.

The names impacted Troiano more than some. She said she had spent much of 9/11 wondering if her husband, U.S. Air Force security specialist Mark Troiano, would be one of those on the list.

Mark Troiano was scheduled to take a flight that day to what at the time was an undisclosed location for training. The plane that would carry him and others in his squadron was grounded that morning.

Mark Troiano recalled the men learning the news as they awaited a flight at their home base of Barksdale.

“When we saw the second plane go down, we just sat there with our jaws open,” Mark Troiano said. “We couldn’t speak. Nobody was eating the food in front of us. I said, ‘We’re not going anyplace.’ All of this is going on, and now we’re having to get ready for the president to arrive at the base. A few days later, we were headed to Afghanistan.”

All the while, his wife did not know where he was until that night.

The Town Talk Alexandria, LA

Jonathan Gray (seen in reflection), 10, listens Monday as Mark Troiano points out the names of Port Authority and New York City police officers who lost their lives in the Sept. 11, 2001, collapse of the World Trade Center. The mirror is part of the World Trade Center Traveling Memorial which is showing from 9 a.m. until 8 p.m. today and Thursday and from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m. Wednesday in the Alexandria Riverfront Center.

Taylor Troiano, 5, stares in awe at wreckage retrieved from Ground Zero following the collapse of the World Trade Center. The exhibit is part of the World Trade Center Traveling Memorial on display through Thursday at the Alexandria Riverfront Center

THE JOURNAL NEWS

Ramapo will host mobile 9/11 memorial

By SULAIMAN BEG

sbeg@lohud.com

THE JOURNAL NEWS

(Original publication: May 16, 2006)

AIRMONT — When Chester "Chet" Weekes retired as a lieutenant with the Port Authority Police Department in 2000, he planned to tour the country with his wife in a motor home the couple had recently purchased.

But a year later, the Jackson, N.J., man's priorities changed, as they did for most Americans.

The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, that killed more than 3,000 people, including 37 Port Authority police officers and 38 employees, prompted Weekes and another retired Port Authority lieutenant, Gene Smith, to transform the Monaco Motorhome into a memorial on wheels.

Since March 2002, the two have hitched a 14-foot long trailer to the 38-foot motor home and traveled the country to showcase and honor the memory of those who died and display artifacts recovered from Ground Zero. The memorial will make its first stop in Rockland this weekend at Ramapo Town Hall.

"We lost 22 people in the town," said Town Supervisor Christopher St. Lawrence, whose office contacted Weekes a year ago. "As we get further away from that tragedy in September, we don't want to lose sight of the people who lost their lives and the emergency service workers who exchanged their lives so that so many people could be alive today."

Weekes, 60, said he and Smith had been volunteering at Ground Zero during the recovery effort and were given permission to use some of the collected artifacts as part of their memorial. They include crushed police car doors, airplane fragments and other debris.

Weekes said some of the most haunting pieces are the smaller ones, the ones that make a personal connection with people.

"We have things like keyboards and staple guns," he said yesterday. "Things people were using on 9/11. They really bring the picture home."

Along with an extensive pictorial display, a video documentary and a history of the Port Authority, the artifacts are placed in the trailer and set up wherever the motor home stops. The mobile home displays the names of the officers and the employees who worked for the Port Authority; Sirius, a Port Authority police dog; and the 23 New York City police officers who died that day.

"We were just in Louisiana, and it was like it just happened yesterday," Weekes said. "It brings it home a bit. I always tell people, 'Next time it could happen in L.A. This was not an attack on New York, it was an attack on America.' "

The Journal News

Sunday May 21, 2006

Ramapo hosts Sept. 11 traveling memorial

By AKIKO MATSUDA

THE JOURNAL NEWS

(Original Publication: May 21, 2006)

AIRMONT

The meeting room at Ramapo Town Hall is filled with memories of those who lost their lives on Sept. 11.

In conjunction with the Ramapo police Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, the town invited the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Department's World Trade Center Traveling Memorial for a two-day exhibit.

Photos — including dust-covered rescue workers and crushed firetrucks — brought visitors back to the tragic day in 2001.

People quietly stood before the photographs and read anecdotes about the heroes who lost their lives saving others.

"It's extremely moving," said Carol Simon of Spring Valley, who visited Town Hall for the exhibit yesterday. "It brings back some dear memories of what happened that day. ... We shouldn't forget it."

The traveling memorial was started by two retired Port Authority police lieutenants.

In the beginning, the memorial was for the 37 Port Authority officers who died after responding to the attacks.

Then organizers realized that many civilian Port Authority employees also lost their lives as a result of heroic efforts, said Chester Weekes, one of the organizers.

The memorial has grown over the years and now honors all the victims, such as New York City police officers, firefighters, flight attendants and passengers of the four hijacked aircraft.

One presentation showed all the names of victims who lost their lives at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

"Memories of the dead are coming back," said Ryan Duffany, a freshman at Suffern High School and a member of Rockland County Fire Explorers and the Ramapo Valley Ambulance Youth Corps. "It's very sad."

Duffany came to the memorial with his friends Dennis Murphy and Jesse Goldsmith, who also are members of the two organizations.

"We shouldn't forget about the day when all the brother firemen came together to try to help people," Murphy said.

Goldsmith was standing before the picture of NYPD Officer Moria Smith, who was helping a victim away from a collapsing building. The caption said she went back to the tower to save more people and never returned.

"This lady died because she wanted to help another person," Goldsmith said. "I will do the same. I will put other people's lives before myself, so I can help others."