REMEMBERING IN DELCO
Man builds 9/11 memorial in his Middletown yard Listings of Delco 9/11 events
MIDDLETOWN » Don Wilkins has been a volunteer firefighter with the Rose Tree Fire Co. for half of a century. He has served as its chief, and now currently serves as the chief engineer of the same fire company where his father Charles was a charter member in 1953. He also belongs to South Media and Middletown fire companies. On Sept. 11, 200l, Wilkins watched, in indescribable horror and sorrow, as 343 of his brother firefighters lost their lives when terrorists struck the World Trade Center in New York City.
The heartbreak he felt that day has never subsided and he wanted to do something to commemorate his fallen brothers.
Three weeks ago, Wilkins put the finishing touches on a 9/11 memorial on the front lawn of his home on Stoneridge Lane. The local fireman has been thinking of designing and building the monument for quite a while, but he said that he wanted “to take the time to do it right.
“I tried for years to get something, anything, from the Twin Towers to include in the memorial,” Wilkins explained. “But private citizens were unable to retrieve anything from the site, like the government and museums could. So I did the next best thing and built a replica.”
Wilkins patiently waited until he found the precise materials to build his monument. Retired from his career as a mechanical technician and research engineer with Johnson & Johnson and later DuPont, Wilkins currently works parttime delivering parts for NAPA in Media. He was making a delivery to the Granite Run Mall while it was being torn down and noticed an old distressed piece of metal in a trash pile that looked similar to the I-beams found in the rubble of the Twin Towers. Excitedly, he asked the work crew if he could have it.
“They said ‘Be my guest, we’re throwing it out,’” explained Wilkins. “I had seen the monument that was built in Clifton Heights on Baltimore Pike and I liked it. Their metal is straight, whereas this metal is more crooked and distressedlooking. I was really grateful to come across it.”
He also was able to salvage a discarded metal sign post from the demolition and new construction of the West End Flats on Baltimore Pike at Media’s western gateway. He had to cut that one in half and do some welding to make it into a replica of the Twin Towers. He mounted the metals onto a cement base.
“I really wanted to get the project done this year before 9/11,” Wilkins said. “I scrounged and salvaged to find all the right pieces that would look like an authentic replica. The events of 9/11 moved me to the point that I had to do something.”
“He was so thrilled when he finally found the right pieces for the project,” added Sue, his wife of 43 years, who has been a member of the Rose Tree Fire Co. Auxiliary for 35 years. She also hails from a long line of firefighters. Her grandfather and uncle were both chiefs and her dad was a firefighter in the former Elverson Fire Co., currently known as the Twin Valley Fire Department in Elverson, Chester County.
Wilkins said that his artistic interpretation, which he estimates weighs about 300 pounds, is meant to remind people of the ultimate price paid by the firefighters and all of the other first responders who lost their lives on Sept. 11, 2001. He hopes that, one day, he can have the memorial honorably placed in a public venue, maybe at Rose Tree Park or at a local firehouse, so many people can see it and remember his fallen brothers.
“I accomplished what I set out to do, even if I am a few years late,” Wilkins commented. My feelings are the same, if not stronger.”
Wilkins said that he never went up to Ground Zero, but he probably will some day. He and his fellow firefighters were ready to go to help out during the week following the tragedy,
“I tried for years to get something, anything, from the Twin Towers to include in the memorial. But private citizens were unable to retrieve anything from the site, like the government and museums could. So I did the next best thing and built a replica.”
— Volunteer firefighter Don Wilkins
but were told “it wasn’t a good idea” for several reasons by the county fire marshal and the Rose Tree fire chief.
Although he designed and built most of the memorial himself, Wilkins said that his friends from Concord Auto Body, Delco Spray Lining and A-Jon Construction have been a major and invaluable help with the project.
Born in the Bronx, Wilkins moved to a house on Rose Tree Road in Delaware County when he was 2 years old. With his long history of being around firefighters and firefighting equipment, Wilkins began as a young man to collect antique and firefighter memorabilia . He has accumulated a widespread collection of all types of fire-related artifacts, everything from leather buckets and antique lamps to assorted helmets and firematic toys.
“This monument is the largest item in my collection to date,” Wilkins smiled. “I have to say that I am proud of how it turned out. It looks neat. Some people will stare at it for a minute and then you see the lightbulb go off as they realize what it symbolizes. Then, they get really quiet as they ref lect.”
Wilkins had another permanent reminder of 9/11 tattooed on his upper right arm. He said that he got the artwork for the same reason that he built the monument — to honor his fellow firefighters lost in the line of duty. The tattoo depicts New York City’s Twin Towers, surrounded with the numbers “343,” and 9-11-01 and the words, “In Memory,” “My Brothers,” “FDNY” and “We Will Never Forget.”
Asked where he was on Sept. 11, 2001, when the terrorists struck, Wilkins said he was working at EdgeCraft Corp. in Avondale when someone came in and told him about the planes striking the World Trade Center. He ran out to his truck to get his handheld TV and watched as the horror continued. He said that he has never same or felt since.
“Every single firefighter who has looked at this sculpture, knows exactly what it is and what it represents,” said Wilkins. “Building the monument has made me feel closer to the fallen firefighters. I don’t want any of us to ever forget these heroes.” been the the same