Twenty-five years after America faced one of its darkest days on September 11, 2001, the National Museum of the United States Army’s new exhibit is highlighting the extraordinary stories of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers service, resilience, and engineering ingenuity. Opened on Aug. 28, the Steel and Stone: Engineering the Response to 9/11 exhibit explores how USACE mobilized within the first few moments of the attacks to coordinate resources, restore critical infrastructure, and support the nation’s long-term rebuilding efforts. Steel and Stone provides visitors with first-hand accounts, visuals and artifacts primarily sourced from the Corps of Engineers’ historical collections and the Army Museum System. Amid the chaos, smoke, and debris, USACE personnel were some of the first federal responders. The exhibit came about because of a professional relationship USACE historians have with the National Army Museum "The National Museum of the United States Army approached us," said Eric Reinert, USACE Office of History curator. "The Museum’s lead curator, Mr. Matthew Godec, previously workedas a contractor for the Office of History, through the Veterans Curation Program five years ago, and thus was familiar with USACE history, our collection, and our role in the September 11 response. He asked us if we would be interested in partnering with them in hosting this exhibit, for which they had the resources." Initial planning began in 2024, and actual work started a few years later at the beginning of this year. “Over two years ago, we startedthinking about how we wanted to honor the 25thAnniversary of 9/11,” said Paul Morando, National Museum of the United States Army director. “To help tell thisspecificstoryabout the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,we reached out toDr.John Lonnquistand EricReinertfrom the Corps of Engineers history office to see how wemightpartnerto createa new exhibit focused on USACE’s response and recovery efforts. Once they were onboard,we began an amazing journey to bring this story to life, one that I feel the public may not know much about and deserves to be told.”
Designing an exhibit that captures the essence of the events surrounding the national tragedy, which remains fresh in the minds of many visitors, requires a delicate balance of narrative themes, personal accounts, and historical objects. USACE historians and museum staff coordinated closely with specialized contractors to help bring the concept to life. The Museum’s Exhibits Division internally develops the master exhibit plan containing the overarching interpretative map and a content hierarchy supported by rigorous historical research,” Reinert explained. “Once that foundational framework is established, the use of contractors is employed for physical exhibit design, fabrication and installation, to bring our shared vision and exhibit objectives to fruition.” Reinert credited the visual and narrative success of the gallery to the collaboration between the collective staff and the designers. "I was very impressed with the museum’s contractors, who produced an excellent script and design that made maximum use of a relatively small space, and were very easy to work with as we refined it."
Steel and Stone is structured chronologically, guiding visitors through the progression of the attacks, the immediate actions of first responders, and the recovery efforts that followed. "The visitor will be taken through the events, starting with the historic USACE role in disaster response and how we planned for it, then the day itself and the initial USACE response through artifacts, images, and quotes," Reinert said. To anchor the emotional weight of those initial hours, the exhibition relies heavily on the firsthand accounts of those on the ground. Among them is Sgt. Dewey Snavely of the U.S. Army Military District of Washington Engineer Company (now the 911th Engineer Company), who recalled the harrowing conditions inside the damaged Pentagon.
"It was a living hell," Sgt. Snavely recalled. "When we first went in, there had been water sprayed on the building for so long, there was so much water in between the corridors, walkways had filled up with water."
“Steel and Stone presentswhat USACE did after the attacks, notably at Ground Zero in New York City and at the Pentagon,” Morando said. “While the physical footprint of the exhibit may be small, the space conveys a large story and one filled with dedicated Soldiers and civilians who served around the clock to bring order from the chaos of those attacks.” “From the initial response, the narrative transitions to the monumental recovery operations. "The next section discusses the areas of recovery in New York that USACE was involved with, primarily the debris sorting operation," Reinert explained. "Though the USACE role in response to the Pentagon was limited, it is also covered. Finally, the legacy of the event—recovery, resilience, and lessons learned—are in the final section."
For Reinert, watching the exhibition come together was a deeply personal experience. The history on display represents his very first major endeavor upon joining the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. "It was certainly gratifying," Reinert shared. "Documenting the USACE Sept. 11 response was my first major project after coming to USACE, so it has a special place for me, even though I was not working here on Sept. 11. My historian colleagues in the Office of History and I made multiple trips to New York in 2002 to collect documents and artifacts, and conduct oral history interviews, and we were able to visit the sites and talk to people who not only lived through it there but also were the first on the scene to help." At the time, the USACE history team was performing a critical service that few other Military History Detachments were executing in the area."While there were other Army elements in New York—Reserve and National Guard, for example—USACE was the main Army organization working there, and my colleagues and I captured Army history that was not collected by any other Army organization," Reinert said. "Because of this, we have been repeatedly approached by others, both Army and non-Army, for our perspective and collections, for example, an object from this collection is part of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum. It’s pretty cool that my very first major project in my time here has had such a lasting impact." In addition to Godec, Reinert credits Dr. John Lonnquest, retired Chief of the USACE Office of History, who supported the project and was actively involved in developing the exhibit, drawing on his own past experiences as a staff historian during the 2001 response.
The National Museum of the United States Army provides the only comprehensive portrayal of Army history and traditions through the eyes of the American Soldier.
To learn more about Steel & Stone, book tickets, or view upcoming events, visit https://www.thenmusa.org/remembering-9-11/