welcome back. i'm shepard smith. when new york, really when america set its sights on rebuilding the world trade center everybody understood we couldn't construct only office

buildings. we had to build a memorial for those who died on that record day. that made the rebuilding necessary. there was a competition for the design. more than 5,000 people applied from 49 states and 63 nations. it became one of the largest design competitions in history. the winner, israeli-american architect who personally witnessed the attacks. . >> i was at home in the east village that morning. i heard on the radio that a plane had hit the tower. i walked up to the roof of my apartment building and i saw the south tower get hit. >> michael learned he won the contest for the memorial in 2004. he says he began thinking about how to honor the victims long before the competition was announced. the sites -- the sights, sounds and emotions of that day had been seared into his

memory. >> my wife was working downtown at the time. i just headed down there. were on water street you could hear this noise. could you hear this wave of panic sweeping through the crowd. they said it is falling, i didn't know what they were talking about. i left home the towers were standing. i came home and they were gone. >> his design is called, "reflected absence." with waterfalls in the footprints of the former towers. >> i imagine these two enormous voids in the hudson. i do these two square holes to cut in the surface of the water, water flowing into them. >> when he revisited ground zero he realized he needed

something more. >> although i came by myself i didn't feel alone. i wanted to capture that and bring it to this site. taking two different ideas and my own experiences it was that evening that i found -- [ inaudible ] this impromptu gathering. ♪ oh beautiful ♪ >> commemoration that's why it was so important. it changed the way i thought about moving forward. and i hope this memorial will allow other people to do that. ♪ ♪ indescribed in bronze will be the 2,983 names of the men, women and children killed in the attacks of 9/11 and february 26th, 1993.

panels will line the pools that mark the footprints of the towers on those panels the names of those who died in that tower. passengers on flights and companies are grouped together. >> we want to find a way to reflect the fact that so many people died with their friends and families. >> it is called meaningful adjacent . richard ross was passenger -- passenger on flight 11 when it crashed into the north tower one was kilt was stacey sanders. joe daniels president of the memorial and museum. >> abby ross was best friends with stacey sanders she lost her father and best friend in the world. when abby ross comes here on the 10th anniversary, to remember the people that she loved, she will see these two names, her father and her best friend, together forever. >> memorial received more than 1200 adjacent requests.

>> we were able to meet all of those requests which gives meaning to the memorial. >> first reponders are grouped by units. >> these first reponders went up the stairs to save people. i think this memorial reflects the special role and place in our hearts that those first reponders occupy. >> every name is almost like an island on to itself. you get a sense of the autonomy of each name and also the linked connection between one name and another. a continuous river of flames -- river of names which flows around each pool. >> that is probably 28 foot tall. >> to support peace and solidarity, 400 trees will be planted to symbolize rebirth and life where there was so much loss and death. >> this is a nursery of the most cared for trees in the

history of the planet. >> thomas cox ceo of environmental design one of the companies in charge of the trees for the memorial. >> i think they will have a more sentimental feeling but the same general feeling they will have about the freedom tower that is, we will rebill. we will get past this. the iconic symbol that is going to be 1776 feet here's the living emotionalal softener that guess with that. >> they have this army -- army of consultants that are out here in a beetle crawls across the highway, alarm bells go off in world headquarters, literally. >> the trees brought in from new york, pennsylvania and washington, d.c.. the places attacked and where passengers fought back. >> how tar it is to that edge. >> every -- every tree is on a o'database all monitored.

>> every tree has special prescription fertilization done. >> choreography that has gone into the entire project is remarkable. >> in august 2010 tom cox watched as they planned the first 16 trees. 70 floors above the artist diana horowitz is watching too. she is going to need more green today. >> now i'm starting to put the trees in. >> they just came in. >> they just came in. >> currently 220 trees in the plaza. planting will continue in stages. it will be a collection of 32 foot high swamp white oaks each expected to grow two feet per year. >> it will be a solid canopy. within a few years all the trees will touch. >> when you have countless amounts of trees in rows, kind of protecting the memorial, i think that it is going to bring in sense of inspiration

and hope. >> she lost her brother john on 9/11. she on the board of the memorial and museum. she watched the attacks of 9/11 with growing horror. >> i remember watching the towers crumble. each time my heart sank. i just felt so bad for those people and their families. no way thinking i was one of them. and then morning came and john didn't come home. >> she believes the memorial will be a place where all those lost that day can finally come home. >> embody the spirit of john and so many fabulous people that died that day. >> one of the people on the committee that selected

michael's dine was maya lynn she created the vietnam war memorial in washington. it is one of the most beloved places for public mourning and remembrance in all the country. there was a time when her wall sparked a lot of controversy. the 9/11 memorial and museum have seen their share of it as well. that story, when we return.

generations are defined by big moments. everyone who is old enough remembers where he or she was when pearl harbor was attacked or when jfk was assassinated. you remember what it was like how you reacted when you heard about the events of 9/11. the terrorists hijacked four planes and flown two into the world trade center. for joe daniels, the president of the ground zero memorial and the 9/11 museum, the challenge is how best to represent that defining moment for an entire city. an entire nation. before daniel got the job to build the 9/11 memorial, he was a lawyer who worked near ground zero. he was there the moment the first plane hit. >> after seeing people jump that's when the south tower was hit by united 175 saw this massive glass of flame and ran with everybody else. >> you were right underneath? >> yeah. it was a scary situation

overall, because it just felt like some general attack. >> surrounded by chaos and horror, daniels made it back home safely. he said what he saw that morning and the days after, changed his life. >> i remember going past national guard troops. having to show my id to get to my apartment this is america. you never had to do that. who would expect to see troops checking for id with machine against? it really changed things. it is hard to communicate that. >> a few years later the city made plans to build a memorial and museum at ground zero. having witnessed the destruction daniels wanted to be part of the recreation. he left his job and signed on to work at the project. >> in a job that you get to feel good about what you're doing and you are going to make a contribution that lasts beyond. >> there were a lot of fights over what the museum would be like. for instance, early on there

was talk of international freedom center at ground zero. these plans were consulted when families complained tributes to global human rights wouldn't be the proper memorial for the dead. as the controversies mounted daniels rose quickly through the ranks. >> i was general counsel for the organization. i got a call on a friday memorial day 2006 somebody on the board of directors saying the founding president was stepping down, could you step in? i said sure. and it was a battlefield promotion. mayor bloomberg became chair a couple months after that. he interviewed me and i went from acting president to permanent president. >> you called it a battlefield promotion. this struggle to deal with all the entities and the competing forces must have felt like a real battle. >> it did and it still does in a way. there are so many stake hold there's have legitimate things to say about this site. the family members, absolutely.

40% of all the family members, 1100 families never got a stitch of remains back to bury. that's what this site is. families do have a lot to say about this site. at the same time people that live here, work here, the public entities, the political entities, there's all things to say about what has to happen. our job is to listen and push forward and get something done that we can all be proud of. >> the memorial is now complete. the museum will not open for another year. >> the design of the museum, basically is essentially 70 feet below the street where the -- which is bedrock where the towers stood. when visitors come down into the museum they will descend 70 feet. >> once finished it will include exhibits from the february 1993 and september 2001 attacks. >> in the museum it is going to tackle some very difficult things. it is going to show what happened on that day on 9/11.

it is going to talk about what led up to what happened. and talk about living in a post 9/11 world. >> mixed in with the darker moments, will be artifacts that represent strength and fortitude. such as one of the towers walls that holds back the hudson river. >> archeology of the space is concrete. that's what was here. >> there's also a column that stood vertically from the bedrock to the roof of the south tower. >> there's footprints that the actual exhibitions for the museum will go into. they will sit underneath the north and the south pool. you can see that ramp up there. that is where visitors will descend down from the museum pavillion, stop at that overlook to see the last column, the wall and then into the main exhibitions under the two pools. >> then the survivors' staircase. >> as things are collapsing, people are running off, the notion it is now permanently

saved and in place i it is huge. it represents survival. it is a -- it will be the last thing that people pass as they come down to bedrock as they come down from the memorial plaza they will pass the survivors' staircase. >> everything about this seems to scream for raw. you want -- almost as if you want to bring the terror, the fear, the noise of that day to the senses of the visitors. >> that level of realness needs to be here in order to tell what actually happened this is not going to be an overly finished, overly fancy place this is a place that is sacred. >> sacred because it is where remains of some of the victims of 9/11 are buried. >> when people get to bedrock they will be standing in front of a wall, behind which the unidentified remains of those that were not given back to family members will be brought in a very private space behind that wall.

>> i don't want any little piece of my son to be brought back down there. >> rosemary is the mother of firefighter george cain. searchers didn't recover his remains until new year's eve of 2001. she is upset about the human remains display. >> i waited months for him to be recovered. i don't want him put back down in that hell l hole. >> cain is protesting the exhibit with other 9/11 family members like maureen who lost her only son christopher that day. he was a new york city firefighter. >> it is incomprehensible to me to have to do this after almost 10 years. >> daniels says the space will honor the dead. >> on that wall will be a huge quote that says, "no day shall he raise you from the memory of -- shall erase from you the memory of time." they did what we do everyday get up in the morning and go to work. >> another difficult and

disturbing display will be a series of photographs and video of 9/11 victims who jumped to escape the flames and smoke. >> that is a horrible thing that the terrorists forced people to make that choice. the conditions inside the buildings were so bad they had to step out knowing they were jumping to their deaths. >> making the decision to include these images was not easy. >> the question of whether we show that in the museum, those issues are tough, because they are so graphic. at the same time if you don't show it you are not telling the full story. >> when visitors return to ground level they will see the calming sight of the memorial pools and the filled with more than 400 trees -- and the plaza filled with more than 400 trees. >> hopefully closes that up wound and restores a sense of togetherness and in an order way. i realize that, you know, people shouldn't forget what happened. but people should also remember that we did come together in the aftermath. and when things like that

happen we have the capacity to do that. >> when we return some of the artifacts of 9/11. so big they need special housing. others so small many people walked right over them and walked right over them and didn't notice. [ whispering ] ok, here's your room key, the crib is already there. great. thank you so much. [ male announcer ] we provide great service, so you can stay you. holiday inn express. stay you. [ tv announcer ] today's trivia question -- what's the hardest play in baseball? the unassisted triple play. the unassisted triple play. [ male announcer ] stay smart and book smart. book early and save up to 20% at any holiday inn express. stay you.

from massive pieces of mangled steel to a crushed tack i -- taxi cab with an unpaid fare on the meter. a collection of artifacts that survived attacks. walk through this 80,000 square foot space and you will feel trapped in time. >> these were vehicles that were destroyed on september 11th. this was somebody's car that was parked in the garage. this was one of the fdny's

trucks. >> someone responded to the site. >> these were first responders. >> something, probably part of the building, crushed it. >> fdny, this truck was the medical examiner who reported immediately after the -- the plane hit the north tower. the towers hadn't collapsed. 8:46 the first plane hit. medical examiner reported this was a truck, setting up a morgue when it was damaged. >> bill is deputy executive director of the port authority of new york and knowledge. their offices used to be locatedded in the twin towers. on the morning. 9/11, 84 of his co-workers died. -- >> september 11th, of course it is personal. there are people think that work with at the port authority who rushed down the stairs to get out of their offices. there are people at the port authority who never came home. there are people, i within to high school with, worked at the tower this is personal for

all of us. >> he's in charge of the 1200 artifacts pulled from the wreckage. workers brought them to this hangar at john f. kennedy airport. >> these are temperature controls. these items have to be not so much temperature, but humidity. a number of artifacts have to be kept in a humidity-controlled environment. >> so it won't rust? >> right. >> these pieces will go on display at the memorial and museum next year. other artifacts are located at memorials across the country. >> we view this as an opportunity that the story of 9/11, which affected everybody, people are going to be able to go to their hometown, wherever it is, and visit and see a piece of that trade center.

>> it is sort of symbolic, if not almost a metaphor, for how twisted a reality that day was. no one could process what that day felt like. no one could process that smell. nobody could process what he or she was seeing. just as you can't process a ladder made of solid steel twisted in this way. >> you see this and you say what force, what amount of force is needed to do this? to these things. >> and those who weren't around on that day, will get a sense of the result of this. >> one of the items pulled from the devastation is the 360 foot north tower antenna. the last pete witnesses saw of one world trade center -- last piece witnesses saw of one world trade center before it collapses in the rubble. >> this was communications for police and fire, television stations, many television

stations in the city off air for a long time after 9/11. >> was the entire region. i remember growing up in hamilton, new jersey and you would get new york and philly tv stations and the new york tv stations came out of the world trade center. >> also turning up in the wreckage, elevators from the towers, train cars, even bicycles, still chained to the racks. >> all of us who would compute, the path train turnstiles. obviously, damaged that day. and the car was in the machine. it was one ofthe 20 trip tickets from that this was ladder three. which lost 12 firefighters that day. >> you can see the absolute damage that took place. >> only a few feet away there were those who did escape from the falling debris.

>> cab driver survived. >> he was out of his cab. >> yeah. >> he had just left the car. so many people tell stories of having to abandon vehicles or bikes or shopping cars, whatever. scientists are still studying many of these pieces of steel for close sieve residue and dna. >> you can see how -- how the scrapings of the medical examiner are our historian folks tell me they were searching for remains and dna. >> this is scrapings from the medical examiner? >> yes. >> he hopes to preserve this objects because each piece has a story to tell about that day. >> the opportunity to make sure that this is preserved for generations that i will never meet that is an unbelievable opportunity and a blessing in a way to me. all of us carry that everyday.

it is hard sometimes. >> i haven't seen this binder in a little while. one of my favorite binders. >> another unlikely curator learned that little things like fliers, postcards and pamphlets also tell a story. >> i found an atm receipt, picked it up, i had is a transaction denied this is a little piece of history. 300, 400 pieces here that may well be used in the museum. very nice. real proud of what i did. >> michael, a paper collector gathering documents. his paper trail comes to a total of 44 binders filled with 4,000 pieces of paper. >> just collected flyers wherever i could. i inside offices, subway

stations, hospitals, i went inside union halls. i went inside any open door i could find. i looked at any bulletin board i could find. >> pieces may not be old but part of american history. >> i wanted to contribute to the aftermath story. i didn't think anybody would go out there and grab the on the streets reaction. >> each page transports viewers back to the days after the attacks when there was so much uncertainy. hundreds had no idea where their loved ones were. they put up posters all over the city in desperate attempts to find them. >> i believe he's out there somewhere. >> there were also messages of hope and support. >> i worked at the united nations for four days and collected as many speeches as i could at the press center. i wanted to show how the world came together. how new york came together. tens of thousands of these were used. >> he hopes his mementos capture a unique per ive of

the times. the significance of his collection has been -- has been recognized by among others the u.s. library of congress which has included more than 900 documents from the collection in its september 11th, digital archive. >> i'm proud i did it. i want my children to see it some day. now i'm a new grandfather. i want my granddaughter to see it some day. and i just feel proud here nine, 10 years later. >> when we return, the exhibit that perhaps more than any it's game day, buddy, and, boy, are we in for a doozy. oh, man. mr. clean is dominating the competition! mr. clean is tackling mess like some sort of mess tackler. oh, and what's this? [ sniffs ] that's the scent of gain original fresh. that counts as a performance enhancer. i am complaining to the cleaning products athletics board. did you just make that up? yes, i did, and i'm the president. you're losing it, buddy. maybe you should hit the showers. mr. clean already did. they're spotless. i bet. [ male announcer ] introducing mr. clean

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from america's news headquarters i'm marianne rafferty. president barack obama praising america's resilience ten years after the 9/11 attacks. the president speaking at a memorial concert sunday. he says the legacy of 9/11 will be that the country emerged

stronger. earlier in the day, mr. obama visited with victims' families at ground zero, the pentagon and in shanksville, pennsylvania. the number of homes devoured by a central texas wildfire jumping to more than 1500 sunday. 17 people still unaccounted for in the fire but officials think they may just be out of town. the fire has burned more than 34,000 acres and last week winds whipped up by tropical storm lee swept across the drought striken state sparking more than 190 fires and leaving four people dead. i'm marianne rafferty. now, back to "fox news reporting: the rise of freedom ." ♪ ♪ there will be a lot to see at the 9/11 memorial and museum. there will also be a lot to

here. the daughter ray fors interviewed hundreds who with it -- the curators interviewed hundreds who witnessed, survived and lost loved ones. it is called the listening station. >> when we started the oral history program in 2006 we didn't know whether it would be easy to convince family members to record, people's responses have been across the board. >> amy weinstein the curator and oral historian. she and the team have the difficult task of recording interviews with families and friends of almost all 3,000 people killed in the 2001 attacks. they also interviewed more than 400 survivors, first reponders and city officials. >> there are some people who were very eager to record and did so on their own initiative. others 10 years later still are not ready. >> many find it tough to get through the recording.

>> suddenly the first tower falls. and i remember knowing at that point, at least a good portion of my firehouse was wiped out. i knew ladder there was there. . >> the experience of crying. survivors who talk about seeing the firefighters going up the stairs as they were going down. there's not -- i have yet to meet a human being who can relate that experience without crying or without struggling. >> 15 minutes after the attacks there were three

>> weinstein says they chose to record the interviews only in audio form because it was easier for people to open up and talk about those frightening moments. >> the buildings shook like an earthquake.

>> i guess the best way to describe it, i try to crawl into my fire helmet to protect myself.

visitors will be able to listen to the stories through a new tech start-up called broadcaster. allowing visitors to hear from those who stood in the same spots during the attacks. >> they can go to these locations and hear stories stream autatically into their headphones like a museum tour. >> recording on a computer iphone, android phone, tag the recordings to a specific location. anyone else using the program can hear them by searching a map or walking by the spot where the recording is tagged. broadcaster co-founder calls it an invisible layer of history. >> they are going to look at the place where the tower once stood and read about the history of this event. they are going to hear the voices of the people that were affected on that day.

>> a person using the app could be list fin to the story of the detective. --. >> perhaps the next best thing to hearing him tell it in person. >> it is almost therapeutic in me telling it. it keeps it in my mind and helps others try to understand what i went through that day. >> that's what weinstein wants. allow people to tell their stories to help them deal with grief or trauma. >> if i can give them an opportunity to make some meaning out of that and to help some people understand what life was like in new york on september 10th, 2001. and wait was like on september

12th, 2001 i think that is making a small contribution. it has been 10 years since that terrible day. when we return, we'll watch how freedom has risen. a decade of amazing time lapse images.

the new towers are now going up at a fast clip to see that there's nothing like time lapsed photography. this footage is from project rebirth. a non-profit group that has been tracking the progress at ground zero. brian rafferty is the group's chairman. >> the emotional power of the time lapse. i don't know how to explain it. it is a very powerful thing to

watch. >> runs off batteries at night. >> type of cameras that captured these images date to the 50s. spy planes used them during the cold war so they can take a lot of abuse. that's why project rebirth decided to use them here. >> this is one of our 14 cameras. >> more than nine years ago, project rebirthplaced cameras around the world trade center site and left them there. >> every three weeks we reload the 35 millimeter film. and they shoot time lapse, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, every five minutes or so. it will go until the site is finished with the first camera went on six months after the attack. >> we have over 900 hours of

footage, thus far. >> some of that fat taj has been turned into a film. "rebirth" it premiered earlier this year at the sundance film festival. critics gave it high marks. not just for the footage but also for documenting the recovery of nine people whom the attacks ly impacted. -- directly impacted. >> i think the moral is the amazing resill that people have in the face of grief and trauma. >> in some ways learning how to make something good out of something horrific. >> the people behind project rebirth hope to move viewers in more ways than one. >> film is meant to serve as a

fundraising tool and a call to action for communities to be better prepared to deal with long term)q÷h grief and trauma that befalls them in any major disaster whether it be manmade or natural. to help other people, particularly first reponders to victims of disasters see the way forward. >> project rebirth will have an exhibit at the 9/11 museum. it opens next year. >> for years, crews have fenced off the world trade center site from the rest of the city. when we return we'll look to the future. and the day when it emerges with manhattan once again.

. it has been 10 years since attacks of 9/11 shocked us all and snuffed out so many lives. we resolved not to let the terrorists win. we said we would rebuild and fight the people who caused such harm. americans waited a long time for this site to reopen this spring they got something else they waited for since that day. the death of the terrorist mastermind who plotted to knock down the towers. >> i was thrilled that we accomplished what we said we would do that is get him. it took longer than anticipated but we got him. >> like the rest of us world trade center developer silverstein heard may 1st, a team of navy seals raided bin laden compound in pakistan

and killed him. it want long after, silverstein learned president obama would be visiting ground zero may 5th. >> when the president came shortly after, i had a chance to meet with him, speak with him. i saw emotion -- i felt enormously emotional just to be part of that. i had a chance to -- to wish him well. i was a very emotional day. >> i thought i was a great, great thing that they were able to get him. because he wags laughing at us. and he was planning other events. >> bin laden's death closes a chapter and perhaps allows almost 3,000 souls to rest a little easier. now a new chapter begins. ground zero will once again be part of the life of lower manhattan. september 11th, president obama and the governors of new york and new jersey will take part in a ceremony opening the memorial plaza. a year later september 2012,

the 9/11 museum will open its doors. it will be a place to look back but should also help us move forward. the museum director green wall says people in her line of work -- >> memorials are promises we make to the future about the past. this museum is a promise. >> larry silverstein feels the same way about his towers. they also represent a promise. >> these buildings are going to be here for hundreds of years. [ inaudible ] these buildings will tower over everything else down here. which is new york, new york keeps growing, getting bigger and bigger. >> for silverstein, construction can't go fast enough. >> what i thought was going to take 10 years, i suspect is going to take another five. i'm only 80, i hope to be around for another five to see

this through. so, that now is the passion of my life. it is the driving force of my life. >> that's obviously true for so many others we met down here. working on the new world trade center site is not just another job, it is a calling. >> welding the steel or putting up one world trade center or putting in the memorial or working at the port authority, all of us know it is a challenge to us. >> that once in a lifetime pilgrimage to see the memorial, being near the people who work in these buildings, who live in this neighborhood adds meaning. it doesn't cut us off from the life of the city but roots us back in. >> he would not want me to be sad. he would want me to be out there motivating people and will having people. so that's way do.

>> we are in a position to be proud to do something for the families when they walk on for the first time and go not name of their loved ones that are now permanently indescribed in bronze, here forever that is a responsible that it is a privilege to work on. >> we close with the construct of the new world trade center about half complete. critics say see -- may see as a -- as a to . how residents went about debating and planning and rebilling. perhaps realists would note as -- work on this -- -- the fathers of our country knew that building and defending freedom is what we must always do as americans. it is who we are. it is what our country is. and here at ground zero the vision of freedom is always in sight. that's our program. i'm shepard smith.

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