September 11, 2019 -- I Remember First Responders

As readers of this blog know I have been participating in Project 2,996, a tribute to the 2,996 innocent victims of 9/11, where bloggers eulogize each victim.  Today, I am changing the rules a bit.  I will not be writing a tribute to one of the victims who died that fateful day, but rather, a tribute to the first responders who have died in the last 18 years because of injuries they suffered while at ground zero.  Please also view my previous tributes to Firefighter Thomas M. Butler, Capt. Daniel J. Brethel, Pamela Chu, Donald H. Gregory, Steven Harris Russin, Lt. Col. Jerry Don Dickerson Jr., Mary Lenz Wieman, Mark Francis Broderick, Capt. Patrick J, Brown, Hagay Shefi, Alison Marie Wildman, Daniel Thomas Afflitto, and Donna Bernaerts-Kearns, as they deserve to be remembered today too. 

On 9/11, thousands of first responders rushed to the Twin Towers.  As people were running out, they were running in.  Many didn't make it out and are listed as one of the 2,996 innocent victims of that day.  However, many of these first responders worked on the pile for the weeks and months to come.  From the initial search and rescue efforts to fighting the fire that lasted for months to remove the debris and rubble from the pile, thousands of firefighters, policemen, and EMS worked days and nights in conditions that no one was prepared for.  I remember the smell of that smoke. The smell lasted for months.  It hung over lower Manhattan like a cloud.  The smell even extended across the river and into Brooklyn and parts of New Jersey.  Anyone who smelled it, who saw the smoke, knew, instinctively, that the air was not right.  Something was wrong with the air that was being breathed by all of us.

In our society, we have a social contract with first responders.  You risk your lives for us, and we are supposed to support you.  Support you with giving you the best training, the best equipment, the best information.  And if you fall in the line fo duty, we are supposed to take care of your family.  On 9/11 and the days since, we have broken that contract with our first responders.  

First, on 9/11 and the immediate days that followed, our first responders were not even provided proper equipment.  I remember news reports that many of those fighting the fire, or searching the pile, or removing debris, did not have proper respiration equipment.  They did not have proper equipment to keep them safe! While we may not have been prepared on that day, there was no excuse for that failure to last for several weeks.  

Second, the government lied to them and to all of us!  The government told us the air was safe. Christy Todd Whitman assured all of us that the air around the WTC was safe and not toxic.  That has been proven false.  I remember as the New York City Law Department was preparing to move back to our offices one block from the WTC, City and the Feds brought in experts to tell us how safe the air was to breathe.  That there was nothing to worry about and there never was.  More absolute lies.  

Third, when these brave first responders got sick because of the work they did for us and because of the first two failures of our government, it took nearly 18 years for Congress to permanently pass a victims compensation fund so that we can in some way try to fulfill our obligations to them?  Congress did it really take more than a decade of hearings,  the harsh words of a comedian, and a parade of the dying to finally bring you to your senses?  Shame on those like Rand Paul who voted to stop the passage of the Victims Compensation Fund.  Such politics should never have been allowed to enter this discussion.

Recently, a memorial to the First Responders who have dies since 9/11 has been installed at the World Trade Center Memorial.  The six granite slabs are known as the 9/11 Memorial Glade, are not inscribed with names, like the black granite that surrounds the Memorial pools because the victims that this memorial is paying tribute to is not set in stone.  It is estimated that the number of first responders who will die because due to some illness related to 9/11 exposure will exceed the number of first responders who died on that day. 

As a society, we must remember our social contract with our first responders. We cannot fail them like this and expect them to protect us when we need them.

September 11, 2018 -- I Remember Thomas M. Butler

In my continued participation in Project 2,996, a tribute to the 2,996 innocent victims of 9/11, where bloggers eulogize each victim, today I remember Firefighter, Thomas M. Butler. Previously, I have remembered Capt. Daniel J. Brethel, Pamela Chu, Donald H. Gregory, Steven Harris Russin, Lt. Col. Jerry Don Dickerson Jr., Mary Lenz Wieman, Mark Francis Broderick, Capt. Patrick J, Brown, Hagay Shefi, Alison Marie Wildman, Daniel Thomas Afflitto, and Donna Bernaerts-Kearns. Please visit my tributes to them as well today, as they deserve to be remembered too. 

Firefighter Thomas M. Butler was a member of FDNY Squad 1.  Tom's life was dedicated to service.  A 12 year veteran of the FDNY, Thomas was also a former NYPD Officer and a member of the US Navy Reserve, assigned to the Mobile Inshore Undersea Warfare Unit.  He also served as the bay constable in Smithtown‚ N.Y.  

As Tom's wife wrote in 2006, "Everyday was important to him and he lived it like it was his last."  His laid back attitude was epitomized by him constantly reminding his family and friends to "Don't sweat the small stuff!".  

Tom and Martha had three children, Kelly, 4, Shawn 6 and Patrick 8 months.  On September 9, Patrick and Martha christened Patrick.  Tom, true to his fun-loving nature, wanted a big party.  Martha protested.  Tom won out.  Tom bought a new suit just for the occasion. This turned out to be the last time many of their family and friends saw Tom.  One could hardly imagine a better, more tributing farewell to someone like Tom, than a large family party.

Kings Park Bluff Memorial, Smithtown, NY

As I write this, my family is planning a Bat Mitzvah for our daughter.  Like Tom, I will be planning a big party for her, and yes, I will be buying a new suit as well. 

I have eulogized several firefighters over the course of my participation in Project 2,996.  I think it is important to remember these brave heroes.  As everyone wanted out of those towers, these men and women ran in, with the sole purpose to protect us.  Yet, we are letting them down.  The statistics are well known.  On 9/11, 343 firefighters (including a chaplain and two paramedics) of the New York City Fire Department (FDNY); 37 police officers of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Department (PAPD); 23 police officers of the New York City Police Department (NYPD);8 emergency medical technicians and paramedics from private emergency medical services and 
1 Patrolman from the New York Fire Patrol all died.  Yet the FDNY and NYPD keep adding names to the list of fallen heroes.  Since 9/11, more than 150 firefighters have died of cancers caused from their time at the site.  Just his year, more than 500 NYPD and FDNY officers were diagnosed with new cancers.  This is unacceptable.  The fact that Congress took so long to pass the Zadroga Act is disgusting.  The fact that they let it lapse in 2015 is despicable.  That they reinstated it for 75 years is at least promising.  Why it is not permanent, is beyond explanation.

September 11, 2017 -- I Remember Capt. Daniel J. Brethel

In my continued participation in Project 2,996, a tribute to the 2,996 innocent victims of 9/11, where bloggers eulogize each victim, today I remember Capt. Daniel J. Brethel.  Previously, I have remembered Pamela Chu, Donald H. Gregory, Steven Harris Russin, Lt. Col. Jerry Don Dickerson Jr., Mary Lenz Wieman, Mark Francis Broderick, Capt. Patrick J, Brown, Hagay Shefi, Alison Marie Wildman, Daniel Thomas Afflitto, and Donna Bernaerts-Kearns. Please visit my tributes to them as well today, as they deserve to be remembered too. 

FDNY Captain Daniel J. Brethel, of Ladder 24, was living his dreams.  He was a firefighter.  Something he had always wanted to be growing up on East Meadow, Long Island.  His brother remembers him as a 4 year old with a red firefighter hat and playing with firetrucks on Christmas Morning,  He would listen to his emergency scanner and often beat firetrucks to the scene on his bicycle.  At age 18, Daniel joined the East Meadow Fire department as a volunteer. At age 21, he joined the FDNY and asked to be placed in the City's busiest area, the South Bronx.  It was said that he had two families:  his wife and daughters who where his life, and his FDNY family.  

Capt. Brethel was supposed to be finishing his shift on September 11.  But like the hero firefighter he was, he accompanied his ladder company to the World Trade Center that day.  It is believed that Capt. Brethel died while trying to save a fellow firefighter by pulling him under a firetruck.  They were both crushed.  That sense of sacrifice was not unusual for Capt. BREthel, who earlier in his career was severely burned on his neck and ears after taking off his helmet to save a fellow firefighter until medical personal arrived.

Usually I chose the person I eulogise randomly, from a list maintained by the Project 2,996 website.  A few times I have selected  a name that I wanted to remember, such as Steven Russin, who lived on my street, and for whom the Town of Marlboro named my street for (much like the town of East Meadow did for Capt. Brethel.  However, this time I purposely picked a firefighter to remember.  New York's Fire Department lost 349 members on 9/11  An additional 159 have died since from 9/11 cancers, including 32 members who were recently added to the Fire Department Memorial.  It is for this reason that we need to make the Zydroga Act permanent.  We need to expand it to all persons who were at, near and around Ground Zero on that day, and the following days,weeks and months.  Our firefighters sacrificed their lives, and those that survived are still sacrificing their lives without proper medical treatment.  

I have helped victims file their claims with the victims compensation fund.  However, many more have not filed, and many more do not know that they have become eligible to file for health care and health services, because the laws have changed, and more cancers and other diseases have been added.  Please, if you or someone you know was there, or around the site, please file.  There are bar associations and pro bono clinics that will help you if you can't do it yourself.  

September 11, 2016 -- I Remember Pamela Chu

In my continued participation in Project 2,996, a tribute to the 2,996 innocent victims of 9/11, where bloggers eulogize each victim, today I remember Pamela Chu.  Previously, I have remembered Donald H. Gregory, Steven Harris Russin, Lt. Col. Jerry Don Dickerson Jr., Mary Lenz Wieman, Mark Francis Broderick, Capt. Patrick J, Brown, Hagay Shefi, Alison Marie Wildman, Daniel Thomas Afflitto, and Donna Bernaerts-Kearns. Please check out these tributes as well today, as they deserve to be remembered too. 

Pamela was a 31 year old Vice President of Cantor Fitzgerald, the bond trading firm located in the World Trade Center, that lost so many people on 9/11.  Pamela was described as "beautiful, intelligent, modest, full of life, aggressive and honest."  Her friend Christiana Yu said of her "I never saw her stressed out, but she told me about customers barking, `This is what I want. Don't sell too low. Don't buy too high.' And there was a lot of trading going at one time. And she was the only female trader and only Asian in her department, and that was difficult, but she seemed so relaxed."

In the months leading up to 9/11, Pamela moved from her parents' home in Queens to a recently renovated rental apartment five minutes from her office. By doing that, she said, she could get to work by 6:30 a.m.  That is was the dedication that she showed to her job.  

The Cantor Fitzgerald remembrance page says of Pamela:

Pamela enjoyed traveling and cooking. Every year for Thanksgiving, Pamela made the turkey and all the trimmings for the entire family. She was a really good cook. Her aunt and uncle did not particularly like turkey, but once they tried the exceptional turkey Pamela made, their minds changed forever. It will never be the same without Pamela celebrating the holidays.

Pamela was born in Korea, and with her parents she moved to the United States when she was 2. After graduating from the University of Buffalo, she started working for Cantor Fitzgerald as a temporary clerk, working her way up to Vice President.

Pamela was the personification of the American Dream.  Come to this country, work hard and succeed.  Pamela was survived by her parents, her brother, sister, and many friends.  Her

September 11, 2015 -- I Remember Donald H. Gregory

This is the tenth year that I have participated in Project 2996, a tribute to the 2,996 innocent victims of 9/11, where bloggers eulogize each victim. Previously, I have remembered Steven Harris Russin, Lt. Col. Jerry Don Dickerson Jr., Mary Lenz Wieman, Mark Francis Broderick, Capt. Patrick J, Brown, Hagay Shefi, Alison Marie Wildman, Daniel Thomas Afflitto, and Donna Bernaerts-Kearns. Please check out these tributes as well today, as they deserve to be remembered too.  Also, please check out Lawhawk's post, where he continues to do an amazing job of detailing the progress of the WTC Site and the politics surrounding the site!

As I look back on these tributes, I remember why this project was started.  To eulogize the 2,996 victims of 9/11.  However, as we have been learning since that day, the list of victims has grown.  Some 20,000+ people, first responders and people living and working in the area, are sick with various diseases, including respiratory illness, and cancer.  Just recently,  Marcy Borders, who was captured in a haunting photo, covered in toxic 9/11 dust, died of stomach cancer.  These people, dying all too often from toxins they encountered on 9/11 and in the immediate aftermath.  It is for this reason that all Americans, must put aside politics, and pressure our politicians expand the Zadroga Act, to include more help for these people.  To expand the list of covered illnesses to include cancers, lymphoma, leukemia, etc., as well as PTSD, and physical injuries. Moreover, Congress needs to take steps to make funding for this act permanent, and not subject to political whims!

Today, I remember Donald H. Gregory.  as always, I select my tributes randomly from Project 2,996's website.  What struck me when I was going through the site is that even today, 10 years later, we still have names that were not selected by bloggers in the past.  So I selected Donald, from the list of names with no eulogy listed.  I hope that my words can capture the person.

Donald was a survivor.  He survived the 1993 attacks on the World Trade Center, walking 104 floors down in the World Trade Center on the day that terrorists declared that New York City buildings and innocent people were not off limits.  While the 1993 attack did not leave an indelible mark on the ones sworn to protect us, it did on Donald, who had dreams thereafter that he was trapped in the building as it was collapsing.  Unfortunately, those nightmares became reality.

On September 11, 2001, Donald wasn't supposed to be in his office, where he, like so many others, worked for Cantor Fitzgerald.  He had survived triple bypass bond surgery, which had kept him out of the office for several months.  He had survived circulatory issues related to diabetes, and had been out for several weeks.  But, the dedicated professional, wanted to return to work, and had come back only late in the week before the attack.  .

Donald is survived by his wife Maureen, who he made a point of kissing every day.  Maureen remembered Donald as a man of "quiet faith".  "He had a generosity of spirit that extended to all in our family. Most importantly, he taught to believe in yourself."  Donald also has three children, Amanda, then 20, Sara, then 19, James, then 14, who inherited his father's love for sports,

September 11, 2014 -- I Remember Steven Harris Russin

For several years now I have participated in Project 2996,    a tribute to the 2,996 innocent victims of 9/11, where bloggers eulogize each victim. Previously, I have remembered Lt. Col. Jerry Don Dickerson Jr., Mary Lenz Wieman, Mark Francis Broderick, Capt. Patrick J, Brown, Hagay Shefi, Alison Marie Wildman, Daniel Thomas Afflitto, and Donna Bernaerts-Kearns. Please check out these tributes as well today, as they deserve to be remembered too.  Today, I remember Steven Harris Russin.

Steven was born in Marlboro, New Jersey, the town in which I live.  Two years ago, the town ceremonially renamed several streets after victims of 9/11.  My street was renamed Steven Russin Way.  Since the renaming, I wondered who Steven Russin was.  I was going to do last year's tribute to him, but decided that I needed to eulogize a victim from another location, other than the World Trade Center.

Steven Russin was a child at heart.  That is how several online articles and eulogies about Steven start out.  Steven was born and raised in Marlboro, NJ, attended Marlboro High School, where he carried on a successful baseball card trading business, and later, Ithaca College, in upstate New York.  Like many of the victims on that faithful day, he worked for Cantor Fitzgerald, as a government securities trader.

However, work was not what defined his life.  Steven's life was his son Alec and the unborn twin girls he never met, Ariella and Olivia, who were born four days after 9/11.  Ariella even wrote a letter to Steven, which was published in
“The Legacy Letters: Messages of Life and Hope from 9/11 Family Members,” which she reads in the video below (the proceeds of sale of this book go to the Tuesday's Children organization.)

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Like Steven, I too am a child at heart.  I also would have been front and center in that water gun fight shown in the video.  From all accounts, Steven, like most of the victims I have written about, appears to be someone I truly wish I could have met.  I would have loved to have talked to him about his kids and share stories of my own children.  To discuss how we both balance demanding work lives with the desire to spend as much time with our children. While I have not met Steven, I am sure that several people I know have, and I hope they feel free to comment on his life here.

Steven's family and friends have set up the The Steven Russin Children Assistance Program Fund, who's mission is to enrich the lives of children of families with financial limitations.  In addition, this child at heart has a playground named after him.  What a fitting tribute!

September 11, 2013 -- I Remember Lt. Col. Jerry Don Dickerson Jr.

Since its inception, I have participated in Project 2,996, a tribute to the 2,996 innocent victims of 9/11, where bloggers eulogize each victim. Previously, I have remembered Mary Lenz Wieman, Mark Francis Broderick, Capt. Patrick J, Brown, Hagay Shefi, Alison Marie Wildman, Daniel Thomas Afflitto, and Donna Bernaerts-Kearns. Please check out these tributes as well today, as they deserve to be remembered too.  Today, I remember Lt. Col. Jerry Don Dickerson Jr.  It struck me that all of my previous tributes have been for victims at the World Trade Center.  For that reason, I decided I needed to remember a hero from attack on the Pentagon.

"If there were a definition of Army values in the dictionary, Jerry D. Dickerson’s picture would sit right next to it, said a longtime friend and fellow military man, Lt. Col. Glenn W. Harp. 

'For him, it was selfless service,' Harp said. 'He cared more for others than he did for himself.'"  If that isn't the perfect statement to summarize a hero I don't know what is. 

Lt. Col. "D.D." Dickerson was born in  was born in Mississippi, studied economics at Mississippi State, and received a Master’s degree in Engineering from Texas A&M University.

He joined the ROTC, served in the National Guard and joined the Army in 1983.  On 9/11 he was working at the Pentagon on operations research and systems analysis. “He was a key player in molding and shaping the future of the United States Army,” Harp said.

His mother once wrote "[a]s many things as D.D. liked, I don't know what he liked more than just sitting down and eating and talking with people."  And truly who can't relate to this?

Lt. Col. Dickerson had a wife, Page, and two children, Will, then 11 and Beth, then 15.  My prayers go out to them, a wife who has to live without her husband, and children who had to grow up without a father.  May they grow up and instill the sense of selflessness, and dedication to honor and Country that their father held so dear.

As I was driving to work today, I heard the victims names being read on the radio. When I heard Daniel Thomas Afflitto's name I started to tear up.  By the time they got to Donna Bernaerts-Kearns I was almost ready to pull over.  Remembering the victims of 9/11 is something we all need to do.  I fear that as we move forward, as the towers are rebuilt, as new generations are born who didn't live through that day, that we will forget.  If some have their way, 9/11, as well as the Holocaust, would be removed from our text books.  This cannot happen!  We need to remember what happened that day.  That America was attacked, not for what we did, but because we are.  Because what we believe, that all people are equal.  That all religions and beliefs are tolerated.  As one of the family members reading names at the 9/11 tribute at the World Trade Center just said, 'it is time to make 9/11 a national holiday.  Kids today know when the new IPhone is coming out and when the Justin Beiber concert is, but they don't know about 9/11.'  To forget is to lose!  Lets not lose!

September 11, 2012 -- I Remember Mary Lenz Wieman

As long time readers of this blog know, for several years I have taken part in Project 2,996, a tribute to the 2,996 innocent victims of 9/11, whereby bloggers eulogize each victim.  Previously, I have remembered Mark Francis Broderick, Capt. Patrick J, Brown, Hagay Shefi, Alison Marie Wildman, Daniel Thomas Afflitto, and Donna Bernaerts-Kearns.  Please check out these tributes as well today, as they deserve to remembered too.  Today, I remember Mary Lenz Wieman.

Mary, age 43, was an insurance marketing executive with Aon, Corp., working in Tower 2 on the 105^th floor.  One colleague described Mary with the following words,  “funny, quick wit, friendly, tenacious, hard worker, complete integrity, loyal, loved her work and liked to socialize with her co-workers.” 

Mary and her husband, Marc met while both attended the University of Dayton.  They had three kids, aged 12, 7 and 6 at the time of her death.  Marc, who also worked in lower Manhattan on 9/11 was evacuated from his office on Water Street.  He tried to contact Mary, but as many of us experienced, cell service was spotty at best, and for most of us, completely out.  As Marc walked across the Brooklyn Bridge, he turned around and saw the south tower collapse.  Marc held out hope that Mary would contact him at home.  Mary, along with several coworkers started to walk down the stairs to evacuate.  Inexplicably, Mary stopped on the 76^th  floor and despite being in excellent physical condition, decided to take the elevator the rest of the way.  Her remains were never found, yet many of her coworkers made it out alive. 

Two years ago, my wife was diagnosed with cancer while pregnant with our second child.  For a time I lived with the fear that I would have to raise my daughter and my then unborn son on my own.  I don’t know how I would have done it.  Marc has had raise his three children on his own.  As Marc described it, “I’d go to work early in the city, try to get home by 6 that evening to take care of the kids and then when they went to bed there was all that paperwork for the charities to make sure if there were distributions our family could get some.”

Mary, loved carousels, and to this day, whenever the family passes a carousel Marc makes sure his kids ride it.  We should all go and ride a carousel this week for Mary!