When in 2001 Exmouth charity champion Lionel Howell heard the cousin of a Lympstone woman was a victim of 9/11, killed in the South Tower after the second plane hit, he was determined to bring a small piece of comfort to the family.
Today (September 11), as the world marked the 25th anniversary of the terror attacks – remembering the 2,996 innocent victims who died after the towers collapsed – Exmouth fell silent at the town’s 9/11 memorial, which holds a 10-pound chunk of a girder from the South Tower.
Each year, Stephen Lawn’s family make the trip to Exmouth where they place flowers in front of a memorial stone that that holds some small stones from Ground Zero and a precious fragment from the South Tower building, where their cousin died.
Lionel said: “I am proud of what we have done for Stephen’s family, they come every year.”
He added: I am chuffed that people still go down to the memorial service but I wish there were more people that would go. I would have gone myself but I am not up to it.”
Stephen Lawn, who died in the South Tower, is remembered by his family, and firefighters, at the Exmouth 9/11 memorial. Photo: EDN.
Charlotte Tuckett, formerly of Lympstone, is pictured laying flowers for her cousin, Stephen Lawn, who died in the South Tower on 9/11.
Photo: EDN.
Charlotte Tuckett attended the 25th anniversary of 9/11, paying tribute to her cousin, Stephen Lawn, who died in the South Tower.
Photo: EDN.
Before the 2027 service, Lionel hopes the memorial will be cleaned so the metal girder is again visible.
Charlotte Tuckett, Stephen’s cousin, who travelled from Dorset with her sister, Tara Corrbett, and their parents, Nigel and Margaret Corrbett, explained how important the Exmouth memorial, and annual service, was to her family.
Firefighters (back) are pictured here with Stephen Lawn’s family, L to R: cousins, Tara Corrbett, Charlotte Tuckett, aunt Margaret Corrbett and her husband, Nigel.
Photo: EDN.
“It’s a really fitting focal point for us to remember Stephen,” she said. “As time passes it becomes ever more important to remember, and to continue to remember, and not forget the sheer devastation of that day.”
Until their death, Stephen’s mum and dad regularly made the trip to Exmouth to pay tribute to their son, quietly remembering him and laying flowers at what is believed to be the only 9/11 memorial in Devon to include part of the Twin Towers.
Cousin Tara, who was in The States at the same time Stephen was in New York, brought back small stones from Ground Zero, which were added to the steel girder when the resin holding the metal fragment was replaced.
Left, Julia Read, from Brixington, Exmouth, was at Grand Central Station, New York, when the planes hit the Twin Towers.
Photo: EDN.
Firefighters and police joined the Exmouth mayor and local dignitaries to remember those who died in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Photo: EDN.
Local dignitaries and the public paid their respects at the 9/11 Phear Park service in Exmouth.
Photo: EDN.
She said her family’s grief ‘was off the scale’ when Stephen died, but her ‘secret’ addition of the small stones from Ground Zero within the memorial had helped her feel closer to her cousin.
“It’s hard to remember it happened, but it did happen,” said Tara. “From the first anniversary I got some rubble, a few bits of the World Trade Centre.”
Stephen Lawn, who died in the South Tower, is remembered by his family at the Exmouth 9/11 memorial. Photo: EDN.
Stephen Lawn’s family laid a floral tribute at the 9/11 memorial.
Photo: EDN.
After meeting Charlotte when she lived in Lympstone, Lionel, now 87, and from Littleham, hit upon a plan to ship over an 18-inch H-shaped fragment of metal girder from America, made possible through the son of the late Paul Wood, who had been instrumental in the creation of the 1998 US memorial, also in Phear Park.
Lionel Howell, pictured here at home on September 11, 2026, was the driving force behind the Exmouth 9/11 memorial in Phear Park. Photo: EDN.
The metal fragment had been sliced from a girder that had formed part of a cross erected at Ground Zero to remember the victims.
Lionel Howell lobbied stateside for help in creating a 9/11 memorial in Exmouth.
Image: with permission.
The steel girder had been sent by one of the contractors working at the Ground Zero site, and arrived around in Exmouth around a month after it was shipped from New York.
The Phear Park 9/11 memorial started with a sketch by Lionel Howell. Image: with permission.
When Lionel carefully unpacked the precious section of metal after it was posted to his then-Brixington home, he was hit by the smell of smoke from the fire that tore through the South Tower.
He said: “I unwrapped it and you could smell the burning, I couldn’t believe it. It was coming off one of the ends of the girder. It was as though it was freshly burned.”
Lionel, who at the time was chairman of the 531st Tribute Fund, launched a campaign to fundraise £3,000 to pay for the Exmouth 9/11 memorial.
Lionel Howell’s idea for a 9/11 memorial in Phear Park won the backing of the town. Image: with permission.
He rough-sketched an idea which he gave to Vince Orchard, of Orchard Memorials, in Exmouth, who turned the design into the stone memorial. It was unveiled and dedicated on September 11, 2023.
Vince Orchard, from Orchard Memorials, is pictured here delivering the Exmouth 9/11 memorial in Phear Park. Photo: Lionel Howell.
Vince Orchard, from Orchard Memorials, erected the 9/11 in Phear Park, after turning Lionel Howell’s idea into reality. Photo: Lionel Howell.
A small crowd on Friday afternoon gathered to join the annual service, where floral tributes were laid at the foot of the memorial stone.
Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service laid flowers to remember the 343 NYFD firefighters who died on 9/11.
Photo: EDN.
Ben Williams, Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service group commander and Exmouth mayor, councillor Graham Deasy, briefly spoke to remember the innocent men, women, firefighters, police and emergency service workers who died after two hijacked aeroplanes were flown into the Twin Towers, killing 2,977 people.
The mayor of Exmouth, councillor Graham Deasy, laid flowers at the town’s 9/11 memorial.
Photo: EDN.
Julia Read, 54, from Brixington, Exmouth, was in New York when the planes hit the Twin Towers. Sent by police to seek safety, sheltering for hours beneath ground in Grand Central Station, she said: “I will never forget.” Photo: EDN.
Floral tributes were laid at the foot of the town’s 9/11 memorial.
Photo: EDN.
Deputy mayor cllr Dianne Conduit and local dignitaries joined serving and retired firefighters and police, where they marked the 25th anniversary with a minute’s silence.
