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Mark Lennihan / AP, file
Ironworkers James Brady, left, and Billy Geoghan release the cables from a steel beam after connecting it on the 104th floor of One World Trade Center in New York on Aug. 2, 2012. The beam was signed by President Barack Obama with the words: "We remember," ''We rebuild" and "We come back stronger!" during a ceremony at the construction site June 14. Also adorned with the autographs of workers and police officers at the site, the beam will be sealed into the structure of the tower, which is scheduled for completion in 2014.
Mark Lennihan / AP
Graffiti left by visitors to One World Trade Center is seen on a steel column on the 104th floor on Jan. 15, 2013.
The Associated Press reports — On most construction projects, workers are discouraged from signing or otherwise scrawling on the iron and concrete. At the skyscraper rising at ground zero, though, they're being invited to leave messages for the ages.
"Freedom Forever. WTC 9/11" is scrawled on a beam near the top of the gleaming, 104-story One World Trade Center. "Change is from within" is on a beam on the roof. Another reads: "God Bless the workers & inhabitants of this bldg."
The words on beams, walls and stairwells of the skyscraper that replaces the twin towers lost on Sept. 11, 2001, form the graffiti of defiance and rebirth, what ironworker supervisor Kevin Murphy calls "things from the heart." Read the full story.
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Mark Lennihan / AP
The name Antony is seen on a steel column on the 102nd floor of One World Trade Center on Jan. 15, 2013. Workers finishing New York's tallest building are leaving their personal marks on the concrete and steel in the form of graffiti.
Mark Lennihan / AP
A message left by Michael Chertoff, the former director of Homeland Security, on a steel column on the 104th floor of One World Trade Center, seen on Jan. 15, 2013.
From April 2012: Six years since construction began on 1 World Trade Center, the tower will soon surpass the height of the Empire State Building's roof. The iron workers placing and setting each beam in the shadow of the 9/11 attacks say they are building out of a "sense of necessity" and know that the tower, now soaring nearly 1300 feet, will help the nation and the iron workers themselves heal. Many of the workers building the tower helped clean the smoldering debris in the days after the terrorist attack. Harry Smith reports.
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Awesome. It takes a bunch of tough construction workers to show how truly human we are and how deeply that day cut. Nice work guys.
This was a wonderful idea. Another great way to allow healing and show the strength of our great country by the rebuild. May each day shine brighter for the ones who have lost a loved on in that traggic day.
It is great to see this building finally nearing completion, it has been a long time coming. The opening of this new tower should help bring a little bit of closure to the many people directly affected by 9/11 as well as to the rest of the country. It is a sign of the strength of this country that they knocked the towers down and we came back and built one even bigger in its place.
Cool story but with our luck there will be a chemical or where the dumb ass that scratched his name in the red iron will cause the structure to weaken and will have to be demolished.
Kind of like WTC 7 was demolished by controlled explosives on 9/11?
Yes......something like that.
Slow news day. Iron workers leave their mark at the top of every building.
Don't you think that this building is a little different that "every building"? All the news lately has been grim. Stop and appreciate some of the good gestures in life for once. They aren't just signing their names here! God Bless the men and women that are able to work on these buildings at 104 stories high.
please , anyone reading this news , please do a search on harbinger on youtube or get the book or the video , isaiah 9:10 judgement .
I wonder if and how many Patriots missles there are at the upper floors of the new building? Just like the defensive ones they have on the White House.
Just the pictures from how high up this is makes me woozy. Thank you gentlemen and ladies for your work.
They should all get ticked for tagging!
Who's going up there to arrest them? :-)
Hey Al-Quieda, U might off knock us down. But, were right back to be stonger and better. Good work to all.
It's actually very common for construction sites to have "topping out" ceremonies where workers sign the last iron beam to be placed on the building. The beam is then raised into place with the American flag on it. I do think it is awesome that we have photos of what was written on these beams for this very special project though. Most of the comments of love and dedication workers leave on these beams are covered forever.
"Guess you rebuilt after the Inside Job I perpetrated" - Dick Cheney
"It takes a bunch of tough construction workers to show how truly human we are and how deeply that day cut."
It takes an even tougher person to stand on that beam 104 stories up! Crazy
Hey, a somewhat happy and inspiring story for once...
Good work. Good story.
carryingconcealed is right. A well armed populace is the best defense against tyranny, crime and school shootings and whatnot. It is amazing the number of idiots who can't think for themselves and believe the mainstream puppet media when they tell you that getting rid of guns is the best way to prevent crime.
An incredible symbol of the strength and resilience of Americans. God bless those who perished, their families and friends. We were all changed forever. God bless those who put their love into rebuilding. You have my deepest respect.