Business & Tech

Hartland Area Business Helps Shape New 9/11 Memorial in Brighton

Duo from McGrain Land Services donate holiday weekend and more to paving the site.

BRIGHTON — With blazing sun and high humidity Friday, Hartland area contractor Jerry McGrain thought about delaying construction of the walkway at the new 9/11 memorial in front of the .

But with a planned ceremony 9 a.m. Sunday on the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks, he and his foreman, Chuck Hertzler, donated their work that day and all weekend, including Labor Day and Tuesday, to help get the site ready.

"Every time I feel like I was going to pass out, I picture that one guy falling from the World Trade Center," said McGrain, 41, owner of McGrain Land Services. "I guess me feeling sick and hot is not a big deal."

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It also was an easy decision to give up a holiday weekend for Hertzler, of Fowlerville, who was a volunteer firefighter for Unadilla Township at the time of the attacks.

"It took me two seconds for me to say I'll be there," said the 30-year-old.

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Temperatures moderated over the weekend as the two carefully laid limestone and bedding sand before installing pavers on the 700-square foot walkway for a memorial that will feature a 1,000-pound steel piece of the World Trade Center. McGrain said the project is a "once in a life time opportunity" that provides a chance to honor those who lost their lives.

"You think of all those people who lost family members," he said. "It's not like we can do anything about it to help them. But it's our little piece to help out the memory of those people. I've got the opportunity to stop and go home to my family. Those people paid the ultimate price."

Area businesses step up

McGrain Land Services, which is just over the Hartland Township western border in Oceola Township, is one of several area businesses donating their time, material and services to building the memorial. Other major contributors include Corrigan Construction, Lindhout Associates and Unilock.

Michael O'Brian, fire marshal of the Brighton Area Fire Department, said the donated services have exceeded at least $50,000.

O'Brian said the memorial will be about 80 percent complete by Sunday — including having the steel in place. Among the items undone include plans to ring the base with names of the 343 firefighters who died, he said.

"It's been a very unique endeavor," O'Brian said. "Just about everyone has given there time and energy. It's been great."

The steel itself will be transported to the site from another fire station on Saturday morning escorted by to area patriotic motorcycle groups. It will be fitted later that day, O'Brian said.

Arrive early

Sunday's event plans an a flyover and speeches including from state Rep. Bill Rogers, U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, and the Rev. Deon Johnson, pastor of in Brighton, who was in New York the day of the attacks. All five Livingston County fire departments, including the , are participating in the event.

A section of Grand River Avenue, between Main and Cross streets, will be closed, but O'Brian said there will be plenty of parking and shuttle from a nearby Meijer store. He advised arriving at least by 8 a.m.

McGrain plans to be back for the ceremony. He said he remembers Sept. 11, 2001, like it was yesterday. He said he wife called him on his cell phone about the attacks while working on a housing job in a field in Fowlerville and recalls the empty sky.

"It was just kind of eerie," he said. "A beautiful morning, not a cloud in the sky (and) you don't see a plane anywhere … It was a real sobering moment. I'll remember where I was the rest of my life."


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