Frank Siller and members of the Siller family will walk the exact path FDNY firefighter Stephen Siller ran on the morning of September 11, 2001, marking the 25th anniversary of the attacks with a private walk through the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel.
The family will follow the private walk by joining hundreds of friends and supporters at the FDNY Ten House, the firehouse located closest to the World Trade Center site.
The walk will close out the Tunnel to Towers Foundation’s “Steel Across America” tour, which has been on the road since May, carrying Siller’s story and a 21-foot steel beam salvaged from the South Tower to communities across the country.
On the morning of the attacks, Stephen Siller had just finished his shift with the fire department when he learned a plane had struck the World Trade Center. According to the tour’s website, Siller drove his truck to the entrance of the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel only to find it closed for security reasons. Rather than turn back, he strapped 60 pounds of gear to his back and ran on foot through the tunnel toward the Twin Towers, where he died while saving others.
Siller’s death, and his favorite quote, “While we have time, let us do good,” became the founding inspiration for the Tunnel to Towers Foundation. Since then the organization has provided more than 1,700 mortgage-free homes to families of fallen service members and first responders, as well as to disabled veterans and first responders. It has also delivered housing assistance and support services to more than 20,000 homeless veterans and holds hundreds of events nationwide honoring those who died in service.
The foundation’s 9/11 Institute has worked to educate students from kindergarten through 12th grade about what it describes as the extraordinary heroism and goodness shown on September 11, while highlighting the resilience of the American spirit. Its mobile 9/11 exhibit has traveled to nearly all 50 states as well as Canada.
To mark the 25th anniversary, Tunnel to Towers this year launched its 343 Homes Initiative, named for the 343 New York City firefighters who died on September 11. The initiative will deliver 343 mortgage-free homes to families of fallen service members, fallen first responders, and catastrophically injured service members across the country.
