Delayed by Flood, Ground Zero Beam Arrives in Endicott

9/11/2012 (Updated 11:05:28 PM)

A hero's welcome in Endicott Tuesday night for a relic from our country's darkest day.

"Very overwhelming, very emotional, we all felt changed by that because it didn't look at all as we expected it would," said Dorothy Bachman of the Tri Cities Women's Club.

It took a decade for the steel beam from Ground Zero to make it's way to the Southern Tier, but then there was another obstacle, the September flood.

"You see your neighbor, you see a stranger, you see us all coming together. We all came together after all the flood, and we are all here tonight for our local heroes," said Rose Sotak, the Deputy Supervisor for the Town of Union.

But even with a year long wait not a moment of meaning was lost for people like Tom who's brother died in the terror attacks.

"My brother died in 9/11 and I just remember his life, all the good and positive things, his enthusiasm and his strength, and how better off we would be right now if he was still here," said Tom Sisolak.

Even after 11 years the pain of that September day is still raw, but having the beam that once stood in lower Manhattan here in Highland Park was worth the wait.

"I think one of the good things is that they remember the firefighters, and the policemen, and all the emergency responders that went in and lost their lives trying to help people, and I think this is just as important if not more important to remember their valor," said Tom Sisolak.