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Stories to Memorialize the World Trade Center

The StoryCorps oral history project opens a new recording booth in New York City, at the site of the World Trade Center. An initial piece of the planned memorial complex, the booth will provide a way for those who lost loved ones on Sept. 11, 2001, to share their stories.

The installation is also meant to give rescue workers and others a chance to record their thoughts through hour-long talks with friends or family members. A copy of the two-person conversations goes to the Library of Congress, which is archiving the StoryCorps project.

Elaine and John Leinung are among those who have already visited StoryCorps to record how the attacks have affected their lives. The pair lost their son, Paul Battaglia, who worked in the World Trade Center.

Another couple with intense feelings about that day are Keith and Grete Meerholz. The husband and wife discuss his escape from the North Tower, where Meerholz, an insurance broker, was on an express elevator to the 100th floor when a plane struck the building. The pair recently had their third child.

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