Sandy Hook memorial unveiled publicly in Newtown
By Bill Dries
6 October 2015
The dedication of a memorial on Tuesday to the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in Newtown is the first public act of remembrance by the Obama administration in the wake of the shooting.
The monument, located on the eastern ridge of the Trossbach farm near Newtown, is an exact replica of the makeshift memorial built in New York city after the Sept. 11 terror attacks. The memorial was to be in the shape of the World Trade Center, but was replaced with a more modest structure consisting of a cross, a small plaque, a marble wall text box, and two obelisks. The original, now decommissioned, World Trade Center memorial was constructed with an exact copy of the design by award-winning architects firm Gensler. It was commissioned by the state of Connecticut and designed by the firm’s chairman, Richard Gafford.
“The memorial is a testament to the bravery and sacrifice of the first responders and heroic victims in New York, Los Angeles and now Newtown,” said former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who had helped to secure the $100 million construction grant. He was joined by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and New York City’s first African-American, Michael Brown, who is the first African-American mayor of a major American city. The memorial ceremony was attended by the survivors and their families.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who in the wake of Tuesday’s ceremony, addressed reporters, declared: “We will always remember those who perished at the World Trade Center.” He pledged that the city would also stand “with those who perished at Sandy Hook,” adding: “Our hearts break for all who lost their lives tragically.”
Both the New York Memorial and the Newtown memorial bear the same design. Each
