PORT ST. LUCIE — The Cutry family of Fredericksburg, Va., came to Tradition Field on Wednesday for a ballgame and got a tearful reminder of the Sept. 11, 2001, tragedy as well.

After a sculpture containing a piece of steel from the World Trade Center was ceremoniously unveiled and most of the 200 or so people attending — many of them retired New York City firefighters — had their photos taken in front of it, the Cutrys made their way through the lingering crowd.

"I was going to take a picture of it at first," said Barbara Cutry, a native of Gloversville, N.Y., "but I felt that maybe I shouldn't."

Her husband, Joe Cutry, approached the sculpture by Fort Pierce artist Patrick Cochran and reverently touched the imbedded slab of I-beam inscribed "9-11-01/WTC."

"It kind of brought tears to my eyes," the Massena, N.Y., native said. "I said a prayer in my mind for all the people who were killed."

The 2,749 people who died in the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, particularly the 343 firefighters killed in the line of duty, were on the minds and in the hearts of all who attended the unveiling. The 90-member New York City Fire Department Retirees Martin/St. Lucie Division obtained the piece of steel cut from the twisted girders that had been part of the World Trade Center and gave it to the county for a memorial.

Cochran, a sculptor at Shadetree Studio in St. Lucie Village, inserted the 100-pound chunk of steel at eye-level between two, 8-foot stainless steel columns representing the trade center's twin towers.

The flag poles in front of Tradition Field, where the New York Mets have spring training, was deemed the logical site for the memorial. Members of the retired firefighters' group, county officials, Cochran and Mets pitcher Tom Glavine unveiled the sculpture during the brief ceremony Wednesday before the Mets game with the Florida Marlins.

"This place is loaded with New Yorkers," said Michael Myles of St. Lucie West, a retired member of FDNY Engine Co. No. 40, "the ones who retired here and the ones who come for the Mets. Everybody should be reminded every day of the sacrifice our brothers made, and this will help them remember. I was sad as it was unveiled; all the memories of my fallen brothers came back to me. But then I was happy that they're being remembered. Talk about mixed feelings."

Wearing a T-shirt with "Forever In Our Hearts" emblazoned across the back, Dan Dooley, a retiree of the FDNY Ladder Co. No. 108, remembered both the victims and the survivors, including his son, Dan Dooley II, who was working in front of the World Trade Center with Engine Co. No. 84 when the second tower collapsed.

"I figured he had been killed," the winter resident of Stuart said. "But he's still with the department, even though he has lung disease from breathing all the smoke."

For a lot of people, Dooley said, "the memories are starting to slip away. We can't let that happen. Something like this, this statue, maybe it will help keep the memories alive."

Keith and Diana O'Hara of Binghamton, N.Y., who learned about the unveiling when they bought spring training tickets online, made a point of bringing their sons, 8-year-old Andrew and 5-year-old Matthew, by the statue on their way into the ballgame.

Diana O'Hara couldn't bring herself to touch the recovered steel: "It's like it's too sacred."

Matthew asked his mother if he should.

She replied: "You don't need to touch it to remember it all."