Korean War Vet Creates The 'In God We Trust' Chain

Editor's Note: To mark the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Golden Valley Patch is sharing the stories of a few local residents uniquely impacted by the tragedy. We've also linked to the Huffington Post's national 9/11 photo project, as well as coverage from other Minnesota Patch sites.

Korean War veteran Ben Barnes watched the second plane crash into the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.

It was “unbelievable,” he said.

Barnes was a bartender for years, including at a Golden Valley supper club. About 40 years prior to 9/11, Barnes paid a bar customer about $20 to show him how to fold a dollar bill into the shape of a ring.

He had no idea at the time he would use that knowledge to create something that would honor a national tragedy.

Barnes started making what he calls the "In God We Trust Chain" in 2004. It is a 54-foot-long chain of 911 dollar-bill rings.

The way Barnes, 78, folds each dollar bill leaves the "1" perfectly centered, as if it's a large gemstone at the front of each ring.

For a while after he learned how to fold the $1 rings, each was separate and unique because of the care he took in picking just the right one and folding it just so.

“Then I decided to tuck them together. I put together two for weddings. You know, ‘Two becomes one.’”

Three years after 9/11, he was having back problems and was fairly immobile. “I have bad knees, bad hips. You name it, I got it.”

To pass the time, he started putting two, then three, then four dollar-bill rings together. And he kept going. When he started, he didn't have any idea he'd end at 911 rings, he said.

In late August, Barnes sat in in Golden Valley and opened a tattered brown briefcase to reveal his creation.

The serial number on the first ring of the chain of 911 starts with 01; the serial number on the last starts with 911, Barnes said.

He sent a letter to Guinness World Records, but representatives of the organization thought he created a paper chain like children make in school. There are paper chains longer than 54 feet, they said.

"I was gonna send them a care package, but I figured if they don't know a dollar bill from a piece of manila paper, they don't know a damn thing," Barnes said.

He was born in Port Huron, MI, and was 8 years old when the Japanese military bombed Pearl Harbor. He went into the U.S. military in 1952 and was in a field artillery group of nine. He wears hearing aids because of the damage his ears sustained during his tour of duty.

He moved to Crystal after his wife, Cleone, died in January 2010. He is happy there, he said. He keeps the dollar-bill chain locked in a vault, in that brown briefcase. He is careful about who he shows it to, but he's willing to let it go one day.

"I'd like to sell it," he said. "I'm not getting any younger. The insurance is expensive. The storage is expensive."

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Golden Valley Patch honors 9/11

Patch Remembers 9/11 in 911 Snapshots

More Sept. 11 stories from Minnesota Patches:

Apple Valley:
Eagan: Eagan Resident Mike Ferber Hopes Memories of 9/11 Won’t Fade
Incidental Soldier
Eagan City Administrator Tom Hedges Reflects on 9/11
Edina: Retired Army Vet Spurred to Re-Enlist Following 9/11 Attacks
Fridley: Demand Soared for Speakers on Islam after 9/11
Hopkins: and
Inver Grove Heights: VFW Commander: Sept. 11 Changed the Country
Lake Minnetonka: Remembering Wayzata Native Gordy Aamoth
Lakeville: Lakeville VFW Post Manager's Wife Working at Pentagon on Sept. 11
Maple Grove: 9/11: A Day of Respect for Maple Grove Resident
Maple Grove Fire Chief Shares Memories of 9/11
United to Help Maple Grove Service Members
Minnetonka: 9/11 Memories From a Former New Yorker
Mendota Heights: Retired Mendota Heights Pilot Recalls ‘Paradigm Shift’
Northfield:
Northfielder Will Never Forget His Birthday in Iraq
Oakdale: Terror and Joy Came Together for Oakdale Family
Post-9/11 World Meant Three Years Away From Family for Local Guardsman
Plymouth:
Richfield: 9/11 Aftermath: Richfield Couple Waits for Possible Deployment
Rosemount:
Roseville:


Shakopee:
Southwest Minneapolis:
St. Louis Park: 9/11 Attacks Made Being Muslim ‘More Difficult’
St. Michael:

Stillwater:
Woodbury: Woodbury Resident, NYC Native Recalls 9/11