Dodge City airport gets 9/11 memorial

? The Dodge City airport recently installed a permanent memorial to the Sept. 11, 2011, terror attacks, using a twisted I-beam from the destroyed World Trade Center.

Brothers Bruce and Brent Bitter created a series of sculptures from the I-beam that are being installed at airports across the state to mark the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, according to The Dodge City Globe. The agency has unveiled sculptures at the Wichita, Great Bend and Dodge City airports and will install others over the next several weeks.

The sculptures have become popular attractions for airport visitors, said Keith Osborn, the TSA’s federal security director for Kansas.

“As a matter of fact, in Great Bend, people come to the airport just to take a look at it,” he said. “And we have one in Wichita that it’s very common to see people stop and take a look at it as they walk by. So it has been very positive.”

One of the sculptures, which includes an American flag and the sentence “We will never forget,” was unveiled recently at Dodge City Regional Airport. The sculpture will be permanently displayed in the airport lobby.

The Bitters own a Hoisington-based business, B & B Metal Arts, which specializes in creating art out of metal. The brothers created seven sculptures commemorating the 10th anniversary of 9/11. An eagle, based on a stainless steel eagle in Bruce Bitters’ office, appears in slightly different form in each piece.

Dodge City’s sculpture includes the eagle, an American flag with nine stars and 11 stripes, and a partial view of the twin towers from the World Trade Center. “We will never forget” is inscribed on top of the design.