With Sept. 11 just around the corner, a recent article in The Day (“Dividing myth from fact: Osama bin Laden,” Aug. 8, 2021) brought back emotion, a memory and thoughts of our local and national ties to Ireland.

I live in Waterford, so it was with great curiosity that, a couple of years ago, I took a walking tour of our namesake town of Waterford, Ireland. Among the historic sites of that old city, I discovered that it is no longer just the opulent, glittering chandelier hanging in the Crystal Mall here at home that binds us to our Irish compatriots.

Our historic stroll brought us to a small memorial park surrounding an artistically presented piece of a steel beam dug from the tragic wreckage of New York’s World Trade Center. The rusty fragment was set on a silver base, and displayed at a sharp angle, as though falling to earth.

The remnant brought back the frenzied emotions of 9/11: sadness, sympathy, compassion, fear, hatred, anger.

Having visited the EPIC Museum in Dublin days before, I knew the Irish were no strangers to staggering loss and suffering themselves, and now they shared in our loss of the twin towers attack, as an estimated 1,000 of the 2,996 people who died on Sept. 11, 2001, had Irish-American links.

The story of the beam began when Waterford Crystal master engraver Sean Egan decided, “The American people kept me in a job for 30 years, so I wanted to do something to honor 9/11.” A true artist, Egan began crafting a small crystal sculpture on his own time. Waterford Crystal of Ireland, of course, created our grand Crystal Mall chandelier.

New York City firefighter Mike O’Rourke was visiting the Waterford Crystal factory as a tourist, and saw Egan working on the delicate, yet powerful, sculpture.

The work depicts rescuers carrying the body of Father Mychal Judge, a fire department chaplain, from the Manhattan carnage that took his life. Rife with symbolism, the artwork also honors the emergency responders killed in the chaos, while the tall building shells represent all those who died that day.

Egan told O’Rourke it was his dream to donate the piece to a New York City fire department. O’Rourke returned home determined to help.

When Waterford Crystal executives got wind of the plan, they officially commissioned Egan to create a larger sculpture. The smaller piece would remain on display at the Waterford Museum of Treasures.

O’Rourke gained city approval, and Egan presented the finished work to New York fire department officials in March 2007. In an emotional ceremony, he met with the parents of firemen lost and Father Judge’s sister.

Knowing the emotional shock the attack had inflicted on the American psyche, Egan had been worried about its potential impact, later saying, “I wasn’t sure how it would be received, whether I would insult people, or end up being fired or sued.”

He was relieved to find his artistry received with love and tears.

That occasion encouraged Egan to begin working on a sculpture commemorating the Boston Marathon bombings to again honor America. During a meeting with Brewster, Massachusetts, Fire Chief Robert Moran for the Boston memorial, the possibility of acquiring a piece of 9/11 steel for a new memorial in Ireland was discussed. They agreed it was worth pursuing.

Once back in Ireland, Egan went to work on the idea, receiving strong support from the Waterford City & County Council, local businesses and surrounding emergency services personnel.

Chief Moran went to work on this side of the Atlantic, where Egan was now well-known among New York City fire departments. Municipal officials granted the request. Moran and Chief Ralph Ingegneri of the Mount Cisco, New York, Fire Department arranged for the heavy piece of steel to begin its journey across the North Atlantic to Ireland.

At the 9/11 memorial’s unveiling in Ireland in September 2018, Egan commented: “This piece isn’t about American foreign policy – it’s about ordinary people doing extraordinary things.”

I wonder if Sean Egan realized he was one of those people.

I recently corresponded with Egan and asked if he worked on the Crystal Mall chandelier. Though he was employed with Waterford Crystal when it was created, he said “I, as an Engraver, would have no part in making a chandelier as there is no artwork on it.” Egan now owns Sean Egan Art Glass in Waterford, Ireland.

Artwork or no, the sparkling beauty of the Crystal Mall chandelier and the rusty brutality of that fallen beam, torn asunder by unimaginable force and hatred, offer two remarkably diverse symbols of the ties that bind the hearts of Ireland and America. And, closer to home, our two Waterfords.

John Steward lives in Waterford. He can be reached at tossinglines@gmail.com.