Thanks to students from Upper Cape Cod Regional Technical School, Wareham firefighters, NSTAR workers and private business, a light will always shine on the Sept. 11 heroes honored in a Cranberry Hwy. billboard mural by Marion artist Alexander Byron.
Byron's 6-by-5-foot painting We Must Never Forget, which depicts firefighters raising the American flag at the toppled World Trade Center in New York City during the events of Sept. 11, 2001, is now illuminated by solar energy panels.
The mural has been in need of lighting since first being erected, but that plan wasn't pushed into action until Jeff Luce, NSTAR Electric's community relations and economic development specialist, brought together Paul Michaud, vice president of sales and manager of Munro Distributing Company, Inc. from Raynham, and Roger Gaydou, operations manager of Brockton-based Solar Installation Limited, who donated and installed lighting and solar panels for the display. The sign illumination project has been in the works since September 2009.
Because of high winds and rains, the billboard and painting was damaged from time to time. At one point, the 9/11 replica was trapped within the billboard lying on the ground. After a group of students from Upper Cape Cod Regional Technical High School, local and surrounding firefighters, policemen and local business leaders from Home Depot and Lowe's, New Bedford's Poyant Signs and Mammoth Media from Pembroke all came together, the painting was restored.