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A Living Memorial Takes Root

Rebecca Green
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WBOI/NIPR

A baby sapling Callery pear tree was planted Tuesday evening at the Allen County Law Enforcement/Firefighters Memorial. The tree is a descendent of The Survivors Tree--a pear tree discovered among the ruins of the World Trade Center shortly after the terrorist attacks.  The Survivors Tree is now a permanent part of the National 9/11 Memorial in New York.

Credit Rebecca Green / WBOI/NIPR
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WBOI/NIPR
Officials picked up the baby tree in Elkhart Tuesday afternoon. It arrived at the memorial with a police escort.

A pair of Fort Wayne Fire Department captains applied to receive a descendent tree, given only to communities committed to nurturing it as part of a memorial.

Credit Rebecca Green / WBOI/NIPR
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WBOI/NIPR
Fort Wayne Fire captains Dennis Geer and James Noll carry the baby tree to its final resting place.
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The pear tree arriving at the memorial

Credit Rebecca Green / WBOI/NIPR
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WBOI/NIPR
The firefighters get the tree ready for planting.
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Fort Wayne Fire Captain James Noll speaks about the legacy of a living memorial.

Credit Rebecca Green / WBOI/NIPR
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WBOI/NIPR
Jerry Vandeveer reads the history of The Survivor Tree at the National 9/11 Memorial.
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Jerry Vandeveer Sr. is thrilled to having a living memorial.

Credit Rebecca Green / WBOI/NIPR
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WBOI/NIPR
Toby Vonholt and Mark Bulman were honored to plant the memorial tree.
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Mark Bulman remembers where he was on 9/11 and was honored to be part of the ceremony.

Rebecca manages the news at WBOI. She joined the staff in December 2017, and brought with her nearly two decades of experience in print journalism, including 15 years as an award-winning reporter for the Journal Gazette in Fort Wayne.