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Artifacts pulled from the rubble of 9/11 become symbols of what was lost
Items left by victims of the attacks and those who tried to help them tell stories of bravery, loss, and perseverance.
Long Island resident Joe Hunter earned a business degree from Hofstra University, but he’d known since childhood that firefighting was what he really wanted to do. A television news video from the morning of 9/11 shows Hunter and other FDNY Squad 288 members, sober-faced and laden with gear, heading to the World Trade Center’s south tower to join the evacuation effort. When the tower collapsed, Hunter and his squad mates perished. Hunter’s helmet was found in the wreckage several months later.
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