Special of the Month

Traveling 911 Memorial Wall

"This Wall Is About Love"

Gloucester man's traveling memorial

makes a stop at Tewksbury Public

Library

Excerpts of an article

By JENNIFER AMY MYERS

Lowell Sun Correspondent

   Nearly a year and a half after Sept. 11, 2001, the powerful images of the terrorist

attack and it's aftermath still leave any observer with a sickening feeling in the pit of

their stomachs that we all felt that day.

   The 24-by-5-foot September 11 Memorial Wall was handmade by Russ Peres, 47, of Gloucester, Mass. as a touching memorial to those who lost their lives that day.

   On that day, Peres' children lost their physician, Dr. Frederick Rimmele who was aboard one of the planes that sliced through the World Trade Center. " Losing Dr. Rimmele inspired me to go to New York," explained Peres, a U.S. Marine Corps Veteran. "I got to the city on Sept. 17, 2001, and stayed there for forty weeks taking pictures. By the following April, I knew what I wanted to do with my pictures and that I definitely did not want to sell them. That was just unpatriotic. I wanted to give back to America what they have given me. This wall is about love."

   The wall is a collection of pictures of the victims, the Twin Towers both before and during the attack, as well as several of the memorial ceremonies that took place in the days and months following the attack. The impressively cluttered, yet organized, wall also includes poems and stories written about the victims, an American flag signed with messages of hope and condolence at Ground Zero, and the names of all but about 500 victims. "We will never forget" is prominently displayed in gold block letters on top of the wall.

   Peres packed up a small U-Haul truck and began traveling around the country with his wall in July of 2002. To date, he has visited 23 states. His plan is to hit 49 states (all but Hawaii) by Sept. 11 of this year and then donate the wall to New York City. He would eventually like to have all of the victims' names, which are currently in the form of printouts from the internet placed on gold name plates on the wall.

   "The wall just keeps growing with every city and town I visit," said Peres. " Many families of victims have donated pictures and I have received a lot of patches from police and fire departments all over the country. I head off to Indianapolis next week," exclaimed Peres, who has self-financed the venture and gladly excepts donations.

Donations to the Traveling

911 Wall can be sent to:

Russ Peres, c/o Sept. 11 Memorial Wall

P.O. Box 8425

Boston Ma. 02114

    Any questions or suggestions and where the 911 Wall will be next, will gladly be answered by e-mail. He's promised to answer each and

everyone he receives. Russ can be reached by e-mailing  russperes@yahoo.com

   On the evening we attended, we were so inspired that we decided to create this web page for Russ to help keep his wall traveling. We also took a few pictures which can be viewed by clicking on the thumbnail images below.

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