By Marisa Dawson

Twenty-five years after the September 11 attacks, the Bennington Fire Department continues to make sure the lives lost and sacrifices made that day are not forgotten.

The department hosted its annual 9/11 Memorial Open House Friday afternoon, welcoming members of the community into the station to reflect on the attacks, view a piece of World Trade Center steel housed in Bennington and learn more about the department and the firefighters who serve the community. Flags lined the lawn outside the station, each with a name of a first responder who gave their life on 9/11/2001.

The memorial is made possible in part through the support of the Bennington Firefighters Memorial Foundation. The memorial room itself was made possible through donations from Darrell and Coe Leta Logemann.

For Captain Brad Utterback, a firefighter/paramedic with Bennington Fire, having a piece of the World Trade Center at the station serves as a daily reminder of the risks firefighters accept when they choose to serve.

“It’s a huge honor to have something like that,” Utterback said. “It definitely reminds you every day you come to work, what we’re risking for others and what they risked.”

The artifact is a massive piece of World Trade Center steel measuring 156 inches long, 46 inches high and 45 inches wide. It weighs approximately 6,000 pounds.

Bennington Fire & Rescue was the first organization in Nebraska approved to receive a piece of World Trade Center steel through the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s World Trade Center Artifact Program. Under the program, the steel must be displayed in a public memorial and organizations cannot charge visitors to view it.

The artifact’s journey to Bennington began more than 15 years ago.

Authorized for acceptance and transportation by Bennington Rural Fire Protection District #7 President Jim Gottsch, the steel left New York’s JFK Airport Hangar 17 at 8:50 a.m. on March 10, 2011. It traveled 1,277 miles by flatbed truck before arriving in Bennington at 6:05 p.m. on March 13.

The artifact is one of thousands of pieces of World Trade Center material distributed around the world. According to information displayed at the station, more than 1,500 artifacts had been distributed to all 50 states and nine countries as of August 2015.

Utterback said the memorial also serves as a reminder of the department’s commitment to the community.

“I would like to hope that people see this and it reminds them that, you know, something happens and we wlll be there,” he said.

For those who were old enough to remember September 11 firsthand, the anniversary can bring back the emotions and experiences of that time. But for younger firefighters and community members, the attacks are increasingly something learned through history rather than personal memory.

Utterback said that disconnect is becoming more apparent as new firefighters join the department who were not yet alive when the attacks occurred.

“I think it’s harder for the younger generation to wrap their heads around it a little bit,” he said. “Just because they weren’t there to experience it, they didn’t understand it.”

He hopes younger members understand that the possibility of tragedy is one reason firefighters train and prepare for the worst.

“The new guys that come on, having that understanding that we train for the worst that could happen someday,” Utterback said.

FF/EMT Isaac Jancouskas said 9/11 carries significance for him both as a firefighter and through his family’s connection to military service.

On the fire side, he said, the events of 9/11 are tied to the history and traditions that continue within the fire service.

“Where we stem from, why we do stair climbs, why we honor and have a brotherhood, sisterhood, family aspect of it,” Jancouskas said. “Those guys literally shook each other’s hands before they went up the stairwell and said, we’re probably not making it out.”

“Just remember that you’re one big family and just honor each other for the most part is what it is for the fire side for me,” he said.

Jancouskas said the anniversary also carries a personal connection because his father was deployed when he was a young child.

“On the service side, my dad was deployed while I was a year and a half old, and then my brother was soon born after that,” he said.

That combination makes the anniversary emotional for Jancouskas, but also reinforces the sense of unity he sees in the country and within the fire service.

“It hits me on both sides, so it can be emotional,” he said. “And also it’s like, this is why we’re a nation together.”

Jancouskas said the physical artifact at the Bennington station can also help bridge the gap between those who remember the attacks and those who only know them through history.

“The understanding and wow factor of how big those buildings were, what they meant to us, and being able to be so fortunate to be able to see this in Nebraska, of all things,” he said.

He recalled seeing the memorial at the station himself and being struck by the fact that such a significant piece of history was right in Bennington.

“I didn’t realize that this was here,” he said.

The memorial has also had an impact on visitors who lived through 9/11. Jancouskas recalled a family visiting the memorial who became emotional after realizing Bennington had a piece of the World Trade Center. For Jancouskas, the passage of 25 years does not lessen the significance of the memorial.

“I don’t think it changes the weight at all,” he said. “I think it’s just a constant reminder of what happened, unfortunately, which is also a good thing, because we don’t want to forget.”

Above: The Bennington Youth Cheer Team brought treats as a thank you to the fire department.

The memorial also provides an opportunity for the department to connect with the community beyond the events of September 11. Utterback said the annual open house allows residents to reflect while also giving families an opportunity to see the station, apparatus and firefighters who serve them.

“Then we have that opportunity. You’re here at our house, we can show them and kind of do some fire prevention or something,” he said.

Children attending the event could see the department’s apparatus and learn more about fire safety while their families visited the memorial.

“With this being here all the time for somebody to come and reflect it gives them that opportunity to constantly remember ‘hey that event actually happened and here’s the proof of that,’” Utterback said.

The artifact is not the only piece of 9/11 and the War on Terror history preserved at the station. A flag displayed in the Tribute Hall was flown over a U.S. military base in Afghanistan by Martin Manhart, a retired Bennington volunteer firefighter who was called to duty to assist with reconstruction of buildings destroyed as a result of the War on Terror.

The memorial’s message extended beyond the fire station Friday.

Later that evening, first responders and military members were recognized during halftime of the Bennington football game against Columbus. Irvington Fire brought its traveling monument to the stadium, while Bennington police, firefighters and other local first responders joined together on the field for recognition.

Nichol Johnson, president of the Bennington Firefighters Memorial Foundation, said the halftime ceremony was particularly meaningful because so many of the children in attendance were born after 9/11.

“I think it’s significant because every kid who’s going to be there wasn’t born for 9/11,” Johnson said. “So it’s really neat watching parents teach their kids about 9/11.”

The events offered different settings for the same purpose: remembering the past while making sure its lessons remain accessible to those who did not experience it themselves.

As the years continue to pass, the memorial at Bennington Fire remains a tangible reminder of the lives lost, the sacrifices made and the continuing commitment of those who answer the call when their community needs them.

“Just never forget,” Utterback said. “You don’t ever want to forget something like that.”