Outside Staten Island FerryHawks baseball stadium on Wednesday, families of the FDNY, active firefighters and retirees came together to honor the memory of those lost on Sept. 11 and in the years after, marking the 25th anniversary of the attacks.
A New York City fireboat gave a water salute. Two ladder trucks placed a large American flag above the street where they sat outside the stadium. Along the fence, flags were tied to the names of firefighters who died in the attacks or from illnesses tied to their service afterward.
Robert Welsh III was Mia Welsh’s father, and he passed away in August 2023, a victim of 9/11-related glioblastoma.
Welsh said “I try to want to be half the person he was. Obviously, it’s a hard role to fill,”.
Families Carry Their Own Stories
Ground Zero is where Welsh’s father was after the attacks, she said. Her mother was meant to be there at the World Trade Center on that day.
“My mom actually worked in the World Trade Center. She worked in the South Tower. She was late to work that day,” Welsh said.
Welsh said she concentrates on her pride in her father’s service rather than the defeat.
“I try not to think about it as being sad because I’m proud that I have a father that gave his life saving other people,” she said.
Thomas Glenn Smith Jr. had a similar story to tell. His father, Thomas Glenn Smith Sr., was part of FDNY’s 224, a unit known as the Trench Dogs, which operated in Brooklyn Heights.
“My father was in 224, the Trench Dogs, in Brooklyn Heights,” Smith said.
Smith recalled his father’s description of Sept. 11, saying “From where he was on Hicks Street, they had to drive through the Battery Tunnel, he said he had a lot of fear.”.
Smith’s father died in March from 9/11-related lung cancer.
“It’s very hard. I try not to get emotional all the time, but I do have a lot of pride,” Smith said.
What the Ceremony Included
Active and retired firefighters gathered with hundreds of family members from the FDNY at the ceremony, which honored those who were killed in the attacks along with those who later died from illnesses tied to their response and recovery work.
The ceremony unfolded in this order:
- A New York City fireboat delivered a water salute while two ladder trucks held a large American flag above the street.
- Fire Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore addressed the crowd, acknowledging the continuing toll on FDNY families.
- The ceremony concluded with a pledge to never forget those who died on Sept. 11 and those lost in the years that followed.
- Attendees received commemorative books containing messages from the mayor, the governor and the president.
“I cannot pretend to know your pain, first in losing so many in a single day and then continuing to lose our people to illness in the years since,” Bonsignore said. “There are no words that can make the burden any lighter.”
The Water Salute and the Flag
The gathering brought together several visible elements of remembrance:
- A water salute from a New York City fireboat
- Two ladder trucks holding a large American flag above the street
- Flags tied to names along a fence outside the stadium
- Commemorative books with messages from the mayor, the governor and the president
While the ladder trucks flew the flag above the street, the fireboat sent a salute. People came together by the fence where the names stood.
For more than 25 years, a growing list has been marked by flags, commemorating firefighters who died not just on Sept. 11, but also from illnesses tied to their work responding to and recovering from the disaster.
The Names on the Fence
Flags were fastened to the names of firefighters who had perished in the attacks or from service-related illness, and they hung upon a fence that stood outside the stadium.
Welsh’s father was one of those names. Smith’s father was another.
Every banner bore a title, and each title stood for a family’s tale. Those banners spoke for both those who perished on Sept. 11, and those who died later from conditions tied to their labor at Ground Zero.
Welsh’s father, Robert Welsh III, died in August 2023 from 9/11-related glioblastoma. Smith’s father, Thomas Glenn Smith Sr., died in March from 9/11-related lung cancer.
The two men both worked for the FDNY, and both of their deaths occurred more than two decades after the attacks.
Bonsignore’s Address
Lillian Bonsignore, the Fire Commissioner, addressed the families who were present at the event. She noted the two kinds of losses that the people there had suffered: the deaths that happened all at once on that single day, and the deaths that came more slowly over the years that followed.
“I cannot pretend to know your pain, first in losing so many in a single day and then continuing to lose our people to illness in the years since,” Bonsignore said. “There are no words that can make the burden any lighter.”
Hundreds of FDNY family members joined hundreds of active and retired firefighters at the ceremony, where the commissioner spoke.
The speech given by Bonsignore stood out among all the others at the gathering. She acknowledged that the suffering continues even now, well past the anniversary.
Pride and Grief
Welsh described her emotional balance plainly.
“I try to want to be half the person he was. Obviously, it’s a hard role to fill,” she said.
Smith described a similar feeling.
He spoke those exact words, saying “I try not to get emotional all the time, but I do have a lot of pride,”.
Both men referred to fathers who had worked for the FDNY and passed away due to 9/11-related sicknesses. Each one took pride in his father’s service.
The gathering offered a setting for people to sit with their emotions. The closing vow to never forget marked the end of the proceedings, while the commemorative books were handed out so guests could carry the memory of the occasion away with them.
Welsh keeps her father’s memory linked to his work at Ground Zero. Smith’s memory of his father, meanwhile, centers on the account he gave of driving through the Battery Tunnel on Sept. 11.
A 25-Year Toll
Twenty-five years after the attacks, the anniversary did not mark an end to the loss, which continued beyond Sept. 11, 2001.
Firefighters have continued to die in the years since from illnesses linked to their work at Ground Zero. Welsh’s father died from glioblastoma in August 2023. Smith’s father died from lung cancer in March.
More than two decades after the attacks, both deaths can be traced back to the response and recovery efforts that followed.
On that day, the ceremony remembered those who died then and those who died in the years since. Both kinds of names appeared on the flags upon the fence.
The families cared little about which fact carried more weight; what mattered was that their fathers’ service and their fathers’ deaths were both acknowledged at the ceremony.
Both speakers describe holding onto positive feelings about their fathers’ military service while also acknowledging grief. Welsh says she concentrates on pride instead of sadness over her father’s death. Smith says he tries not to get emotional but feels a great deal of pride.
The fence held the names. The families held the memories.
Source: abc7ny.com
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