The last civilian survivor rescued from the rubble after the World Trade Center buildings collapsed spoke to more than 1,000 people at a 9/11 ceremony in Mesquite on Sunday, the 15th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
"This is my first time in Texas," survivor Genelle Guzman-McMillan said.
Guzman-McMillan was the featured speaker at the opening of Freedom Park, which features a twisted beam pulled from the World Trade Center site in New York.
"It was the scariest day of my life, but I go by my faith now and I trust that it just wasn't my time then," Guzman-McMillan said. "Today, it felt like yesterday to me. All of the memories. All of the flashbacks."
The city of Mesquite acquired the beam in 2011 and it has been featured at several events. The completion of Freedom Park gave the beam a permanent home.
More than $100,000 in donations were collected to help build the park.
