NBC News
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Marvin Davis
Rock Center
The iron workers assembling the last few floors of One World Trade Center say that their work above New York City’s skyline is more than just a job.
“It’s a part of history. It’s a part of rebuilding you know, part of putting lives back together to show people that the spirit won’t be broken,” iron worker Marvin Davis told Harry Smith in an interview broadcast on NBC's Rock Center with Brian Williams.
Davis is the general foreman at the World Trade Center site. He is part of the generations of Mohawk Indians who have built New York’s famous skyscrapers. Both Davis and his son are helping construct One World Trade Center, formerly called the Freedom Tower.
“It’s a fortress. It’s a better built building than I’ve been on ever,” Davis said. “With the concrete and the steel, you know, both of them together combined, you know, this thing is, I think is impenetrable.”
The original One World Trade Center was destroyed in the terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers on Sept. 11, 2001. In the 10 years since 2,753 people perished in attacks on the towers, a team of more than 200 iron workers clad in fluorescent vests and hard hats have nimbly built One World Trade Center. The building now soars more than 1,244 feet. The tower is a couple of weeks away from surpassing the height of the roof of the Empire State building.
“We’re right there,” said iron worker Kevin Murphy. “In the next couple of weeks, we’re there. That’s going to be another big, you know, special day. Pretty much from here on up, everything’s special, you know?”
NBC News
Murphy is one of several iron workers who lost someone they knew on Sept. 11, 2001. The completion of the building will mark an emotional moment for Murphy, the lieutenant superintendent of steel erection at One World Trade Center.
“Just to be part of something that’s going to be the tallest building in the nation and a monument to all the people that lost their lives down here. As an iron worker, you couldn’t ask for a better place to work,” Murphy said.
John Makely/MSNBC.com
NBC News
John Makely/MSNBC.com
As the workers ascend farther into the heavens each day, placing and setting beam after beam, scrawled on some of the beams are the names of those who perished on 9/11. The building, made of steel and glass, is also full of emotion.
See more images from 1 World Trade Center
“Way more emotion than we’re used to. We’re iron workers. We don’t show our emotions well, but around here, you can’t help it, you know. You see families come. You’re looking down at the memorial. You see everybody looking at the memorial. This is definitely a very emotional place,” Murphy said.
In a matter of months, the tower is expected to “top out.” That’s what it means when the last steel beam gets put in place. After the spire is added, One World Trade Center will be the tallest building in the United States at a symbolic 1,776 feet.
For Murphy, the construction of the World Trade Center towers is in his blood. His father helped build the first World Trade Center towers.
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Murphy came to Ground Zero to clean up in the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks.
“[I] didn’t really talk about it with anybody when it first happened, because it was so intense, just to be down there and then to come home and have to answer the questions about it, but it was definitely surreal and the things we saw, nobody should really have to see,” Murphy said.
Murphy’s wife, Heather Murphy, said her husband’s chance to build One World Trade Center is helping him heal.
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Kevin Murphy
“Having been there right when it happened, I didn’t know if he would ever come out of that. He was so sad for so long, so the fact that now he’s in a place and bringing it back is so big, so huge. It’s kind of the best part about it. He gets to rebuild it. He doesn’t just have to have the memory of what it was,” said Heather Murphy through tears.
Murphy’s fellow iron worker, Eric Hunt, also helped sift through the smoldering debris 10 years ago.
“I was down here doing some burning one night and I was burning this big gusset plate open and I started on one end and worked my way to the other end and when the steel opened up, there was two ladies laying there holding hands,” said an emotional Hunt.
Hunt, a veteran iron worker who helped repair the World Trade Center after the 1993 bombing, said he’s thankful to be building One World Trade Center.
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Eric Hunt
“In the beginning, it was sad and every day, you had to overcome that, but as you get into it and you make it through your days and you spend a month, a year, whatever, it becomes a sense of necessity. You know, this had to be done,” Hunt said.
Hunt said that as they build higher and higher, the iron workers feel a “little bit of glory.”
“Every man here has put a sense of pride into this building and it’s just heavy duty, has armor. It’s modern day pyramids,” Hunt said.
John Makely/MSNBC.com
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Give me a break! - this building is a product of the lowest bidder, like everything else in a capitalist society. I'm an architect, and I love a good building with great meaning as much as the next guy, but don't apply meaning where it does not exist to make yourself feel better. The people who built this believe in getting paid and getting paid well, and that is fine, but it's no more American than the next building down the block. These folks did not get chosen to build it because they believe in liberty and American values - what about the folks who did not get hired? Let it be what it is, a building, rebuilt in the aftermath of a great tragedy, and that is enough, and that is the best example of the human (not American) spirit - to lift ourselves up again and live.
What a wonderful and inspiring story. Definitely a tribute to all the souls that were lost and to those who honor those souls as they go to work every day to build this magnificent display of our freedom and will to overcome adversity. I applaud them all.
Thank you for an upbeat comment.
I find it sad that so many people still post of ludicrous conspiracy theories behind the WTC disaster. I am an architect and have worked on buildings for the past 35 years. I have read in-depth analyses of the structural collapse of the twin towers and building 7. Anyone with any knowledge of structures and materials will understand that there is no conspiracy. Fire was the main reason behind the collapse. The second reason was damage to structural frames and foundations caused by the kinetic motion of falling mass. You people that post of conspiracy are an insult to everyone that died on that horrific day. You should be ashamed of your ignorance.
The kooks posting here can't comprehend what you are saying.
Jayne..........That's because those "kooks" spent all of their hard earned money, from their part time 7-Eleven job, on Michael Moore movies
I find it sad that people at the bottom of their class get a degree same as the top ones. Lots of really expert architects and engineers who weren't asleep in physics class (ae911truth.org) can tell you 1) A knowledge of static loads and material strengths is not enough to dismiss the physics of heat, gravity and mass in motion, 2) No fires, no matter how massive have ever collapsed a steel building, 3) Kinetic means motion, so you meant to say kinetic energy, moving mass creates force which increases with speed. Even if the fires were hot enough to soften the steel uniformly at the center and all four corners, and the upper floors collapsed neatly on the lower, they cannot generate enough force from a 20-foot fall to vaporize 80 floors at near free-fall speed. Do you honestly believe that any amount of concrete falling from any height can melt hundreds of feet of vertical steel columns in seconds, leaving a lake of molten metal that took weeks to cool?
You should be doubly ashamed of promoting ignorance when you hide behind a degree.
The real insult to the victims of 9-11 is their countrymen who believe the lies.
What is wrong with Michael Moore movies? And the innuendo about 7-11 is uncalled for in these days of high unemployment. Everyone should be glad that anyone is working. Also, 7-11 has the best coffee for the dollar, far outshining it's higher end competitor's.
No Dante, I was not asleep I was at the top of my class and yes fire fueled by jet fuel can creat temperatures that will soften steel to the point where it will buckle. Intense fires lasting a long time can and do melt steel, how do you think it is made. After that you have the kinetic force. What are your credentials other than being impressionable and on drugs. You are obvoiusly not wired correctly. I challenge you to look up findings by the AIA and ASTM. I know you would rather beleive in your own warped sense of reality. You are a complete idiot.
Steel is not made with jet fuel. A blast furnace is considerably hotter than any of the temperatures which were proven to have existed in the WTC fires. Please explain the kinetic force required to turn one hundred floors of five inch thick concrete into a powder like dust. The steel "softening" to the point of "buckling" doesn't explain the disappearance of all the floors above the impact points in the first 4 seconds of the collapse, nor the speed of that collapse over all. If you were top of your class, it wasn't much of a group of students.
Please, no need to perpetuate the lies and speculations of that tragic day. The families and the country have gone through enough grieving.
Here is detailed and well presented study of the facts!
http://web.mit.edu/istgroup/ist/documents/EFCA2004_Istanbul04.pdf
I guess I must have been asleep for the last 11 years! Sorry, but I didn't know that we were building another WTC !I think it is a great Idea and I hope it might pull all of us together in realizing that we all are AMERICANS and we might be down now, but,WE'LL BE BACK!
Despite being an American, and an ex New Yorker, and having been to Iraq (Baghdad) I don't hate muslims. I believe the majority of muslims are peaceful and have had many many muslim friends. I believe the muslims who hate us are radicalized. I believe the prophet never taught hate. I believe Allah wanted peace.
Looking forward to seeing the new building when its completed.....
Remember how we were United that day? Read all of the comments left and ask yourself what happened? Why are we all so angry at each other? Different views? The Greatest Country in the world,we should all be PROUD!
The values of the America/U.S. of today are nothing like the values of the America/U.S. of yesteryear.
The values of the America/U.S. of today are based solely on " Greed, Power and Wealth " and nothing else !
Just a recommendation to the engineers there at the WTC, It would be a good idea to find out if they can place a Local Radar on the top of the building and have Security at ground floor monitor it 24 /7 .. I don't know if they ever though of it , but to have ultimate protection also means to be proactive on monitoring for air traffic so an alert can be called. In fact they should have this on every high rise in the nation and in the world....
If they do , just remember I gave everyone the idea :) heh!!!!
If 9/11 ever happens again, will Obama head to Patterson NJ to dance in the streets with the supporters of terrorism or will he "protect and defend" our nation?
It is very hard to tell what a president who is openly ashamed of his country will actually do in a crisis.
good point....the same pathetic leader who wouldnt wear an american flag pin on his suit until his campaign advisors made him. What can you say about a loser whos not even an american citizen. WTf has this country come to?
“It’s a fortress. It’s a better built building than I’ve been on ever,” Davis said. “With the concrete and the steel, you know, both of them together combined, you know, this thing is, I think is impenetrable.”
Interesting choice of words, especially so close to the 100 year anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. Nothing is inpenetrable. What was it the White Star Line said about the Titanic, that it was "designed to be unsinkable?" Even the captain said that he couldn't "imagine any condition which would cause a ship to founder. Modern shipbuilding has gone beyond that." The fact is, no matter how safe we make something, an act of nature or the act or acts of a depraved individual or group of individuals can easily destroy what we took so much pride in making. This building is amazing and probably much safer that the buildings it is replacing, but don't call it inpenetrable and give those aforementioned depraved individuals any ideas about proving us wrong.
Yes, as if the glass windows, no matter how good they might be, are 'impenetrable'.
As long as there are bunker busting missiles, I think it's safe to say anything close to the surface or above ground is 'penetrable'.
I'm not sure we should be building a new tall target.
Would you rather it be a Wal-mart?
In sixty years we have become the 'land of the flee'.
Everybody is trying to get away from something, and get to something better, and fast, and by any means.
But of course we're all in the same pond and subject to the same brackish water and scum.
We need to build ourselves back into a cohesive society, guided by moral principles, and governed by principled leaders.
I doubt a building will do that. But maybe it can be a start, if we all recognize the work ahead of us and become willing to change ourselves to do that work together.
Sounds Great, I aggree!
That's two of us.
Anybody else?
Let's get the pond scum out of the White House for starters.
Romney 2012
Remember the way everyone was United the terrible day? If we could all keep that United feeling and stop all the fighting between ourselves, we can do better! To much hate. Why do we have the red verses the blue in our country? Couldn't we just do the best for each other?
We can all have our opinions, at the end of the day we should stand TOGETHER!
robert
The Red vs. the Blue is only a media trick for the ignorant viewers.if there was a legitmate third party it would be called the White party. oops we couldnt call it that as then it would have racist overtones so we have to have a Purple/Pink party oops that would ire the homosexual party so where do we go next ?? .just remember stand tall for America against communism , islam and other foreign ways of life. be proud to wave the Red, White, and Blue with all 50 states not "57" like some Crook stated
It's called the Independent Party.
Can you believe the negative comments? Keep it up America, keep dividing youself and let your enemies conquer from within.
This is time to pay tribute, not bicker like little school children. This is great for NYC and all of America. You cannot keep us down is the message loud and clear. We are shouting it and screaming it to our enemies. Knock us down. We will get back up!
Good grief, how did a new building being built end up with hating our own leadership, can we not enjoy what these people feel, the rebuilding of the heart of NYC ? and a little of the mind of America, and when it's FINISHED , like most buildings, it will look marvelous compared to what it does now, dont forget, there is a very tall spire to adorn the top.. To me it symbolizes a sword, to let the rest of the world know what they'll get if they EVER F#*K with us again!!.
The current "leadership" in our White House supports terrorism and hates our own nation. It apologizes for our nation and is ashamed of all we have accomplished. It works to defeat our industry, destroy our rights and deny us the ability to freely travel our nation. It demands a "fair share" of our wealth and insists we pay $7.00 a gallon for gas.
Things have changed for the worse and we have a cancer working hard to kill us from within.
The White House has nothing to do with this. Celebrate and be happy for NYC that suffered so much, lost so much, and fought for so much PAIDMYFEE...they paid more than fee's, they paid with their lives.
As an expatriate I am so tired of hearing people put down Americans for mourning their loss. Get over it. It's horrible to read all the nasty, cursing, political comments written here. Take a beautiful story and turn it into a hate crime.
As a born and bred New Yorker I remember reading or hearing that the Towers were constructed to fall "straight down." All this talk about falling into it's footprint shows me that some people here are talking a lot of junk. My goodness, the workers are emotional and proud over the construction of this building. They have memories of finding dead bodies and they see this construction as something positive, as moving forward. Can we please have that moment!!!!!!!!!!
These are the people America does NOT need. These are the people that will tear up the beautiful tapestry and destroy us from within.
Instead of complaining, do something to change it. Become involved in Change. Not the President's kind, but the kind that speaks to your heart and sensibility. Don't be an armchair QB, get in the game.
i am just a bible believing christian YOU KNOW a real christian that
DOES NOT BELIEVE IN WAR does not believe in murdering children
because skull and bones bush boys masonic luciferian liars like bush
get to sell their masonic luciferian lies to the people
I actually take the time to youtube WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE THEY SPRAYING
i actually take the time to look at the KING JAMES BIBLE and READ
psalms chapter 2
I actually believe that going to lybia where they SODOMIZED kaddaiffi
with a KNIFE and butchered that man WHAT DIDNT american LAME STREAM media show you how that man died
OF COURSE NOT
how about the MILLIONS OF MILITA that stand up for liberty and freedom
what YOU GOING TO DO NOW skull and bones MORE ORDE OUT OF CHAOS?
you think your lies are going to stand YOU THINK THE AMERICAN PEOPLE DONT KNOW you think the MILITIAS DONT KNOW
oklahoma was about DISARMING THE MILITIAS try it now obama
GO AHEAD AND TRY IT i dare YOU IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST
who is GOD REPENT AMERICA Turn back to GOD change your mind
RETURN TO THE LORD and HE WILL HEAL YOUR LAND
harper mason up here in canada
and mcguinty in ontario ANOTHER MASON
you keep pushing your penis sucking agendas in our schools YOU GO AHEAD
millions more will homeschool
MILLIONS OF MOMS WILL STAY AT HOME and become wives and mothers
and friends to their families
youtube what in the world are they spraying
THE BIBLE IS TRUE JESUS IS GOD and the world needs to wake up
My, my. Some good points made in a crude way, but NOT NOW! We are honoring the dead and milestones we have made.
Charlie Manson called, he wants his cellmate back.
No kidding, Scotty. That guy sounds as wacky and extremist as a suicide bomber.
"Praith tha' Lawd and killz tha' heathens."
“It’s a fortress. It’s a better built building than I’ve been on ever,” Davis said. “With the concrete and the steel, you know, both of them together combined, you know, this thing is, I think is impenetrable.”
Interesting comments given the fact that the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic is only a few days away. Didn't the captain of the Titanic say that he could not "imagine any condition which would cause a ship to founder. Modern shipbuilding has gone beyond that?" And didn't The White Star Line use the term "designed to be unsinkable" when they were promoting their new ship? Nothing is inpenetrable. Don't make comments about this and give certain depraved individuals a new target.
shame on some that criticise the building of the new WTC .. having lost my youngest daughter - a baby of 24 ...
So sorry, the trolls are too busy pushing their own agenda. I stand by your side and Honor your daughter with you Jags B.
For all you Giffords writers. She was just hit by random fire. The main target was the Judge standing there as he had launched an investigation into Hussein Obamas right to be president and that people is the end of the story. Remember Giffords was a ally of Hillary Clinton and a very left wing Rep. Being involved with my inner circle we warned the Judge to take precautions but he never thought this could happen in America. Sadly it did. BTW the shooter was never a member of any TEA Party movement or any other Patriotic group.
Wrong conclusion to a sad story. Left as a park, a monument built inside the park. Now we have another icon to be attacked by terrorists. But who knows. Peace on Earth!
I say let them try it again and they will be the sorry-est SOB's on this earth. Ournaievity has passed, we are ready for them now.
Hayden: Yeah. There was enough there and we were marking off. There were a lot of damaged apparatus there that were covered. We tried to get searches in those areas. By now, this is going on into the afternoon, and we were concerned about additional collapse, not only of the Marriott, because there was a good portion of the Marriott still standing, but also we were pretty sure that 7 World Trade Center would collapse. Early on, we saw a bulge in the southwest corner between floors 10 and 13, and we had put a transit on that and we were pretty sure she was going to collapse. You actually could see there was a visible bulge, it ran up about three floors. It came down about 5 o’clock in the afternoon, but by about 2 o’clock in the afternoon we realized this thing was going to collapse.
Please don't disrespect their heroics by calling them liars.
They had feet on the ground. They cleared the building floor by floor. They risked their lives to save the people and the building. Lives were lost, the buildings were lost.
My late uncle used to work the high steel in NYC. This story brougt tears to my eyes - and I'm reading it at my desk at work! The fact that victims' names are written on the beams gives me chills. These workers ARE heros - I don't care how long it takes, its being done and there's healing and power in the process.
If only each and every one of us lived our lives by the Golden Rule, imagine what humanity could accomplish!
henrymakow com
infowars com
jesus-is-savior com
WAKE UP AMERICA WAKE UP
$ 3.9 Billion and rising, the most expensive building in the world. Can't help but wonder how many construction firms, unions and developers took advantage of the situation to profit. Or, does China own this, too?
The building had to be rebuilt and if you can't see that then your mind is narrow to say the least. But it's not only this building that needs rebuilt. Our entire nations infrastructure needs to be rebuilt. Our roads and bridges are crumbling. Gas, water, and sewer lines are collapsing and our electrical grid is overloaded. This names only the worst of the problem. It will take trillions to fix our infrastructure but the cost of letting our infrastructure collapse is immeasurable. Either invest in our nation or leave it. I'm tired of hearing the same people say it cost to much. Give me a break. Everything cost to much but it does not mean you let the enemy win or you let the nation crumble. Good Grief, Have A Back Bone America! Obama & Biden 2012.
Didn't say it did or didn't need to be re-built. Did question motives - other than it needed to be re-built to show resilience in the American Spirit. However, I will argue the point on additional government spending - for anything. Unfortunately, we are 15 Trillion + in debt thanks not only to Bush and Obama, but to our entire government bureaucracy. We must cut the spending and reduce the debt before spending more on infrastructure. I agree it needs attention, but not until we make other government spending concessions and pay back China! Ron Paul 2012!
"$ 3.9 Billion and rising, the most expensive building in the world."
Yep. To put this in perspective the Burj Khalifa, at over 2,700 feet the tallest building in the world, cost $1.5 billion USD.
Those wacky Muslims...
Most of the site workers, foreman, and architects on the job were non muslims. Give credit where it's due.