When John Jackson in 2004 drove pieces of the World Trade Center across the country from New York to Washington, he believed he was transporting the steel remains to a final resting place.

But almost a decade later, those artifacts are still in limbo.

And Jackson — who recently was told his 9/11 memorial can not be placed in Olympia — faces the possibility that he may have to recross the country to return Washington’s piece of the 65th floor.

The Tenino-area welder and businessman said he is dismayed by the state’s ruling that, because 9/11 was a national- not state-significant event, his bronze and steel monument is not fit for placement in the capitol.

“We never even got a phone call,” he said.

Now, the memorial sits on a trailer in Jackson’s backyard outside Tenino.

Jackson, 51, hasn’t given up hope though. Since he conceived the idea for a memorial, a succession of small miracles has propelled the project, he said.

He is confident he will prevail, and that the $100,000 raised for the bronze and steel monument will not be in vain.

“You never know what’s going to happen with this,” he said. “It’s taken on a life of its own.”

Before any monument can be erected in Olympia, it must be approved by Washington’s Department of Enterprise Services.

Joyce Turner, of that department, late last year ruled against adoption of the 9/11 memorial.

To be placed in Olympia, a monument must commemorate an event that had a unique, specific impact on Washington state, she said in a rejection letter sent to Jackson.

As the gatekeeper to additional review, Turner’s dismissal meant the project would not be reviewed by others in Olympia.

Jackson said he is frustrated by the dead end, particularly because he wholly disagrees with Turner. The memorial is, in fact, tailored to commemorate how the terrorist attack impacted Washington, he said.

Of the monument’s four life-sized bronze figures, one is a military officer.

“That represents the sacrifice at Joint Base Lewis-McChord,” Jackson said. “We’ve lost quite a few citizens that were stationed here, and the last place they called home was Washington state.”

Another of the figures, an airline stewardess, is a nod to the Boeing aircraft used and lost in the attacks.

“I think it reflects a lot of heritage of our state,” he said

 It’s not the first time Olympia officials have turned Jackson away.

When Jackson first submitted preliminary designs, he was told that, per state regulations, he must wait until 2011 — 10 years out from the event — to build a memorial. At that time, the issue of state versus national significance was not addressed.

So Jackson waited and did some fundraising. And the Spirit of America Foundation, the organization that sprang up around the project, tweaked its designs to meet specifications required by the state, including a significant downsizing in scale.

As time passed, Jackson began considering other locations, including Chehalis.

“With I-5 being right there and everything and not being too far from Fort Lewis and McChord, right on the main thoroughfare, I thought it would tie in,” Jackson said in 2009. “There’s that feeling, too, with the museum, because all of our veterans have stepped up after 9/11.”

But the desired space never panned out, and Jackson, who designed the memorial with Olympia in mind, waited and then resubmitted his idea.

Now, Jackson is considering taking it to another state capitol, Washington D.C., or the George W. Bush National Presidential Library in Texas, where staff has expressed interest in the memorial.

It’s already been rejected several other places including Shanksville, Penn.

“Their memorial is already set in stone and they can’t add nothing to it,” Jackson explained.

As for Chehalis, the only available spot is between Walmart and Home Depot.

Jackson said he likes that, if placed there, the memorial could be seen from I-5.

But he worries about the lack of security.

“I don’t want some crackhead breaking off an arm and trying to sell the pieces,” he said.

Chehalis Mayor Tony Ketchum said he didn’t have “any good information” about a location for the memorial, but said he’d still love to see it installed in Lewis County.

“When they first proposed it I thought it was a fabulous idea, and I still think so,” Ketchum said. “It would be great to have it here particularly at a spot near the Veterans’ Museum.”

Jackson’s greatest hope, however, is that Olympia officials will reconsider.

He’d like to sit down with Turner, he said, and explain his point of view; see if they can come to an understanding.

“How she interprets and how I interpret are two different things, obviously,” he said. “But everything is up for negotiation and interpretation.”

Should peaceful negotiations break down, the businessman isn’t above leveraging the threat of some negative publicity, he said.

“Imagine the attention I’m gonna get when we have to drag that chunk of steel back to New York,” said Jackson, who is contractually obligated to use the remnants in a memorial or return them to the East Coast.

Steve Valandra, spokesman for Department of Enterprise Services, said it’s unlikely his department will reconsider its decision.

The Department gets several memorial requests a year, many of which are never built.

Valandra acknowledged that Jackson was not told specifically about the national versus state issue — nor were any concerns expressed — when he submitted his first proposal. But Jackson knew that assuming some risk was part of the process, Valandra said.

“He knew what the possibilities were,” he said. “He was made well aware of the criteria.”

Jackson, a father of three, seems to regard dedication to his country the way most people regard income taxes or daylight savings time; it’s just part of life.

He grew up a military brat, hopping from military base to military base. His family was stationed in Germany during the 1972 terrorist attack on the Munich Olympics.

The experience sewed an understanding and hatred of terrorism at an early age, he said.

When 9/11 struck, Jackson felt called to honor the nearly 3,000 lives lost.

A memorial, he hoped, could bring closure to Washington state, the way a previous metal memorial brought closure to him.

In 1996, Jackson’s cousin and lifelong friend John Ferry drowned when a commercial fishing boat, on which he was working, overturned in the Pacific Ocean.

Jackson was left with only memories.

“There was no body, no grave and no closure,” he said.

The professional welder needed a physical reminder of his friend. He fashioned a cross from stainless steel and tasked Ferry’s brother with polishing it once a day.

On memorial day, Jackson joined friends and family on a boat ride to the coordinates where Ferry had drowned. At midnight, the group dropped the anchored cross and watched it sink below the waves to permanent rest.

It was the closure Jackson needed.

Jackson had a clear vision for his 9/11 monument, but no clear plan.

The businessman knew he would need help. As such, he formed the Spirit of America foundation to act as organizational body. He recruited friends and business connections.

Among those involved were sculptors Jim and Christina Demetro.

The father-daughter team sketched and produced clay models of the four figures that would become the perimeter of the memorial. Those models were later translated to wax. Ceramic molds were made of the wax figures, and then hot bronze was poured onto the ceramic.

An architect was recruited for the structural design.

And Morgan Lindbergh, grandson of Charles Lindbergh and one of Jackson’s employees, was tasked with calling on his connections to drum up support for the project.

“It took on a life of its own,” Jackson said.

The project gained speed as it progressed.

“A trip to New York produced one of the last steel beams from the World Trade centers,” Jim Demetro recalled. “A trip to D.C. produced two large pieces of limestone facade.”

In all, about $100,000 were raised and donated, through labor, to the memorial, Jackson said.

Though the monument is made of sturdy cast metal — the World Trade Center beam alone weighs as much as a Volkswagen — its design allows for fluidity and interaction, according to Jackson.

In the middle of the Pentagon-shaped structure, rests the World Trade Center remains.

Circling the structure are the four linked figures.

A person-sized gap in their circle, and footprint guides, allow visitors to join hands with the models and become the missing link.

“It signifies the people ripped from our hearts,” Jackson said. “But it also allows you as a citizen to stand there and represent your ethnic background or your religion.”