Nearly twenty years after the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York, the museum in memory of the act of terrorism has added some of the first identified victim to its collection.
Fire Pastor Mychal Judge’s prayer chair was delivered to the depot of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum on Sunday.
Straight to Twin Towers
Judge is one of the most famous victims of the attacks. Immediately after hearing that a plane had crashed into the North Tower, he hurried to the Twin Towers.
There he began to pray for the dead. He continued his prayer in the lobby of the north WTC tower, where a command post had been set up. There, Judge was fatally hit by debris from the collapsing South Tower.
A photographer from Reuters news agency recorded how Judge’s lifeless, dust-covered body was carried away from the crash site. It became one iconic photo. In addition, Judge became the first victim of 9/11 to be identified, leading him to be listed as “Victim 0001.”
Bidstoel van Victim 0001
Judge was a much loved fire brigade pastor from 1992 until his death. In his role, ‘Father Mychal’ was a source of support for many firefighters for many years. But he also assisted the homeless, drug addicts and AIDS patients. Judge is still seen as a saint. He is still commemorated every year. In 2011 he got his firefighter jacket and helmet a place of honor at the FDNY Museum of New York.
Judge’s prayer chair had been in a convent in Maryland, USA for the past few years. One of the nuns recently called the 9/11 museum to ask if there was any interest in the furniture. “It’s important that it gets to a place where it will be appreciated,” Sister Teresa Irene told AP news agency.
Amy Weinstein, the museum’s chief curator, is pleased with the acquisition: “It is visually very powerful, but also very quiet and unassuming”. For example, the leather on which Judge knelt is worn. She expects it to be on display in the foreseeable future in the museum, which is located near the site where the WTC towers once stood.
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