SARATOGA SPRINGS-- New York State Military History Musem Director Mike Aikey discusses the National Guard Heritage Series Painting "Ground Zero" ( at right) with a reporter from the WTEN TV in Albany during a press conference at the museum on Thursday, Jan. 15.The original painting was placed on indefinite loan to the musem by the National Guard's Historical Services Division.
The painting chronicle's the New York Army National Guard's response the Sept. 11, 2001 suicide attacks that brought down the World Trade Center towers in Lower Manhattan. Three Army National Guard Battalions-- the 1st Battalion 101st Cavalry, the 1st Battalion 258th Field Artillery, and the 1st Battalion 69th Infantry-- began mobilizing immediately and rushed to help at the crash site that became known as "Ground Zero."
It makes more sense to house the original painting in New York than in the National Guard Bureau's Arlington, Va. Headquarters, said William Boehm, a National Guard historian.
New York, he said, has one of the finest museums in the National Guard museum system.

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