A palm-sized piece of the World Trade Center steel that was reduced to rubble on Sept. 11, 2001, will be on display inside a Jefferson City business indefinitely.
On behalf of the Stephen Siller Tunnels to Towers Foundation, Jack Oehm, a retired New York City Fire battalion commander, presented the steel to Stephanie Scruggs, president of Scruggs Lumber, and her father and former president of the company, Bob Scruggs on Thursday for their efforts in securing a smart home for 27-year-old paralyzed veteran Tyler Huffman, of Jefferson City. While serving as a Marine in Afghanistan, the then 22-year-old Huffman was shot by an enemy sniper, causing him to be wheelchair-bound.
When Huffman returned home, he received community support and a campaign, called "Operation Tyler," was launched to build him a smart home - one with advanced technology to allow the veteran to live independently.
He lives in that home today. It's one of 23 smart homes nationwide the Stephen Siller Tunnels to Towers Foundation, named after a New York City firefighter who died on 9/11, has helped fund. Oehm said the foundation pledged to build 200 homes for veterans who return to the U.S. after sustaining "catastrophic injuries" in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Bob Scruggs said building Huffman's home was "a Jefferson City effort all around" and his company was one of many forces in the effort. Through connecting with the company's vendors, Stephanie Scruggs said they were able to provide interior doors, windows, siding and more. Carpet One, one of the offerings at Scruggs, supplied all the flooring and tile. In a speech to more than 40 gathered at Scruggs, Oehm, who lost 20 of his firefighters on 9/11, thanked the father-daughter duo for their generosity and spoke about the steel's significance.
"This steel is very special and very moving to New York City firemen in the fact that almost half of the people that were murdered in the World Trade Center were never found, not their bodies or any part of them," he said. "I was on a pile and pit for nine months of my life searching for people. This is more than just steel - this steel contains the bodies and souls of those we lost on 9/11."
Oehm and 22 firefighters, all volunteers for the foundation, are traveling across the country and thanking more than 800 Carpet One locations for supplying materials for other smart homes. This week, Oehm journeyed to Dallas, Wichita, Salina and Kansas City, Kansas, as well as Kirksville and Columbia, making Jefferson City his last stop.
After receiving a piece of the 9/11 World Trade Center, Stephanie Scruggs said she was "speechless."
"It's such an honor," she said. "It was such a change for our nation, such a huge event for our nation and knowing I have a piece of it in my store is mind blowing to me."
On that historic day, Huffman said he sat watching events unfold in his eighth-grade social studies class at Fulton Middle School. As a young man from a military family, he said he always knew service was in his future, but that was solidified on Sept. 11, 2001.
"When 9/11 happened, it was like a big light just went off in my head," Huffman said.
In his smart home, Huffman is able to manage his home at the touch of a button. He can turn off lights and adjust the temperature without transferring himself in and out of his wheelchair.
Caring for injured veterans, Oehm said, is an American responsibility.
"We have to come together as Americans, because we're Americans and that's what binds us," he said. "We have to protect each other and we have to help each other in times of need."