Editor's note: This story was originally published in the Hickory Daily Rcord in September 2011, 10 years after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Three months after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Hickory’s Benco Steel erected a monument to honor the victims and first responders killed that day.
Benco dedicated its memorial on Dec. 13, 2001, making it the first 9/11 memorial built in the United States, according to the Ground Zero Association.
“It was an incredible tribute to those who lost their lives and the first responders and it stands today as a tribute,” said Jay Tate. “This nation’s going to survive whatever comes our way – it shows the strength of America and what we’re willing to do.”
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The monument’s genesis was simple. On the afternoon of Sept. 11, 2001, a salesman reported that flags were at half staff across the city. Benco didn’t have a flag.
At that time, Jay Tate was the company’s vice president, and he decided to do something about it.
Tate, a retired Army officer with 20 years in the military, had an American flag in his office that a general had given him.
He hung the 3 foot-by-5-foot flag banner-style from Benco’s sign alongside U.S. 70.
“I knew we had to have something at Benco – we had to have a flag,” Tate said.
Tate and some of the other employees started sketching ideas. What started as a simple flagpole turned into something more.
They designed a two-tiered monument with brick and mortar about 45 feet long.
In the center, the American, North Carolina and Benco flags fly from three poles. On the south end, there’s a sculpture.
“Our employees – the guys in the warehouse – were the guys that came up with that idea,” said Benco’s President Judy White.
Benco employees used scrap steel to build the monument reminiscent of the twisted steel that remained after the World Trade Center fell.
In this 2011 file photo, Judy White, president and owner of Benco Steel, sits beside the first 9/11 memorial erected in the nation, as the sun shines upon the memorial on the 10th anniversary of 9/11.
Early on, White decided to get area businesses involved in building the monument.
“Everybody we contacted agreed,” White said. “The people we turned to – they couldn’t do enough.”
The monument stands alongside U.S. Highway 70 in front of Benco Steel.
For the first five years, Benco hosted a memorial ceremony at its monument. By the fifth year, the participants in the memorial outnumbered the attendees.
“People go on with their lives, but I don’t think anybody will ever forget that day – I know I won’t,” White said.
The annual ceremony began to be observed during the Greater Hickory Classic and Tate continued to coordinate it.
“People forget what happened on 9/11 and condemn the fact that we’re fighting the terrorists and the people who are trying to curtail our freedoms,” Tate said. “We always want to maintain a high state of vigilance if we want to maintain our freedoms.”
