GREENSBORO, N.C. (WGHP) — In the Triad, pieces from the World Trade Center are a permanent part of three cities after one local artist gathered more than 20 tons of steel from a scrap yard in New Jersey and brought it to Greensboro.
“If you want to understand history, touch history,” Jim Gallucci said on the eve of the 23rd anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
Gallucci, a nationally renowned sculptor, brought 40,000 pounds of steel from the World Trade Center to the triad.
The remaining steel sits outside the shop with his namesake in Greensboro. The beams are from the 70th floor of one of the towers.
The steel was towed on an 18-wheeler from a New Jersey scrapyard.
“It still had the smell of jet fuel on it … What really gets you is when things fall out. We had a kid’s sneaker fall out of one,” he said.
In an effort to honor the victims, Gallucci created a monument in downtown Greensboro. The bottom is shaped like the Pentagon, and there are 50 pieces of fluttering steel with poems on the bottom from children about the attack.