The LaGrange police and fire departments plan to show their support for a motorcade that will be carrying a 9/11 memorial from New York City to the National Infantry Museum at Fort Benning.

An estimated 600 firefighters, and military and law enforcement veterans will be on motorcycles as they escort the memorial, which consists of iron and steel beams from the World Trade Center in the shape of a cross.

LaGrange police and firefighters will greet the motorcade about 3:45 p.m. Tuesday at the overpass on Upper Big Springs Road at Interstate 185. Ladders of 100 feet and 85 feet on the fire department’s two aerial trucks will be extended and a large American flag draped between them.

“We’ll always remember” the tragedy of the Twin Towers on Sept. 11, 2001, when 343 firefighters died, said LaGrange Deputy Chief Ray Stewart.

“The fire service is a family,” he said. “Those were brothers and sisters who died that day.”

The motorcade is scheduled to leave New York on Saturday. A fuel stop is scheduled in Newnan at 3:20 p.m. Tuesday before it heads through Troup County.

The escort will include several New York City firefighters, some of whom responded to the 9/11 tragedy, as well as Engine 343, a 1951 fire truck engraved with the names of all the firefighters who died at the World Trade Center.

Joel Martin can be reached at jmartin@lagrangenews.com or (706) 884-7311, Ext. 235.