48 Hours: Reflection in Manhattan
Also See: Photo Slide Show: A Weekend Of Reflection in New York
DAVE J. IANNONE
Firehouse.com Founder
The officer's side door of Engine 58 honors the memory of Lt. Nagel, whose memorial service was held Saturday.
Pete Matthews/Firehouse Magazine
Inside Coverage
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NEW YORK -- It might not have been the throngs of firefighters and rescue workers from around the world that had been expected totake over Midtown Manhattan this weekend before the initially planned FDNY Memorial Service at Madison Square Garden was postponed ... and it didn’t matter.
Several thousand emergency workers made their way to the Big Apple nonetheless and paid their respects to the fallen heroes of the World Trade Center tragedy. It was a weekend like few others for many that came. And still, likely, only a snapshot of what will come when such a Memorial Service for all the fallen heroes does take place, likely sometime next year.
They came from as close as Long Island offering their ladder trucks for an arch at memorial services ... and from as far as Dublin, Ireland and the Czech Republic, firefighters from another part of the world who would travel any distance to be with their FDNY brethren.
The patches that adorned shoulders at just about every street corner -- at funeral and memorial services on Friday and Saturday, at an entry point for visiting rescue workers at Ground Zero, or those just walking around Times Square -- displayed a cross-section of the fire service from, simply put: everywhere.
From Vancouver, British Columbia ... Mesquite, Texas ...Fairfax, Va. ... Los Angeles City and County ... Gary, Ind., Dallas and Houston ...Miami and Jacksonville, Fla. ... Rochester ... Portland ... and more ... they came. Some were solo, some in pairs, and most in groups of five, 10, 20 or more. More than 100 came each from Los Angeles and Chicago alone. Some brought their significant others and children along, to see first hand what they had likely been consumed with since Sept. 11 ... the loss of so many of our heroes.
One of the many street vendors peddling FDNY and NYPD apparel in Times Square.
Firehouse.com Staff Photo
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It didn’t matter if they came because their reservations couldn’t be refunded or if they just decided to visit because their plans were made. Some attended nearly a dozen funerals and memorial services over a few days, while others just came to stop by a FDNY firehouse, show their support, and visit Ground Zero to do the same.
Here, in New York, they were welcomed with open arms for their desire to travel in memory of the 344 firefighters and paramedics lost on Sept. 11. And the respect, admiration and brotherhood from all shone through.
There were many sides, many stories, many angles, many ideals and many symbols of the firefighting family ... far more than could be described in words or pictures.
FRIDAY: The Arrival and Times Square
On Friday, many out of town firefighters visited the quarters of Engine 1 and Ladder 24 in Manhattan.
The procession to Lt. Nagal's service makes its way to the church.
Dave J. Iannone/Firehouse.com
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An entire bay of the firehouse was adorned with photos ofthe fallen heroes, including FDNY Chaplain Mychal Judge, as well as packed with gifts, flowers and other items given to the station. Almost every firefighter called the response overwhelming. Many had seen the images from the station before, but viewing it in person was something tragic, amazing, inspiring and unforgettable at the same time.
A foursome of out of town firefighters and their wives dined at the restaurant next door to the station after their visit. Just as their meal ended, an FDNY firefighter from the company came in to give them tickets to the night’s Jimmy Buffet concert at Madison Square Garden. The tickets, apparently, had just been given to the on-duty firefighters and could not be used. So the FDNY Bravest did the next best thing -- gave them to the visitors who came to honor their fallen brothers.
Walking down 7th Avenue in Times Square Friday,firefighters from Texas commented in amazement as each store they walked by -- normally packed with Knicks, Rangers and other New York t-shirts and hats --instead most prominently displayed apparel gear emblazoned with the FDNY and NYPD logos. Average citizens walked around donned with FDNY wool caps and sweatshirts.
Youngster Jordan Lowe sits in the driver's seat of FDNY Engine 40. In a ceremony, she and her firefighting
father from Los Angeles were among a group that presented a check for $1 million Saturday to the FDNY which they raised
selling memorial bracelets.
Firehouse.com Staff Photo
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Others, from Florida, noted that one of the many newstickers rolling above the Square displayed a headline about the city’s mayor raising the number of firefighters on the site at Ground Zero to 75. Just a few weeks earlier, it had been reduced to 25 and the protests and politics that followed -- in part -- led to the postponement of the major memorial service, some officials said at the time.
The firefighters mentioned the irony of the announcement about the staffing upgrade on the same weekend the service had originally been planned. Others agreed with the FDNY’s position that the service was right to be postponed until all of the families were ready for such a potentially overwhelming event.
SATURDAY: Donations, Memorials and Midtown
Early Saturday morning, busloads of Los Angeles firefighters attended a ceremony to present nearly $2.5 million to the FDNY’s Widows and Orphans fund. The money was raised on the streets of Los Angeles ...by selling t-shirts and memorial bracelets ... and simple walk-in donations to the stations.
The Bravest of the West were greeted by hugs and tears from the firefighters at Engine 40/Ladder 35, a station which had lost 11 firefighters but has only found the body of one thus far. The outside of the station was adorned with flowers, cards, banners and hundreds of well wishes from members of their community and those who have visited the station over the past two very trying months.
Firefighters from Chicago, Kentucky and other areas, seeing early morning reports of the Los Angeles donation on CNN and onthe radio, made their way to the ceremony as well before going to many memorial services to be held this day.
At the funeral for fallen FDNY Lt. Robert Nagel, from the 'Fire Factory' of Engine 58, hundreds of firefighters lined the street in frontof the church under a giant American flag raised by two tower ladders from Long Island.
FDNY firefighters stand at the front of a block-long line, at points several deep, of uniformed personnel from around the world
on Saturday at Lt. Nagel's services.
Peter Matthews/Firehouse Magazine
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They stood silently as the lieutenant’s pumper passed, followed by a symbolic empty hearse and the family. Some left to go on to the next service as the packed church could barely hold the family and FDNY members.
In the line, they talked about how far they had traveled, each offering a seemingly different reason for his or her trip. For some, itwas their sixth or seventh service in two days.
Saturday evening, two firefighters and a police officer from Prague in the Czech Republic, who had toured several fire stations on the East Coast in their journey to the previously planned Memorial Service, gave patches and pins to the crew at Engine 1/Ladder 24.
The FDNY firefighters from the station located just ablock from Madison Square Garden, returned the favor by giving the trio who had traveled thousands of miles, Department t-shirts. They traded stories, asked questions about the loss at the World Trade Center and the Prague firefighters donned FDNY gear and posed for photos with the station’s crew.
About two-dozen firefighters from New York, Texas and elsewhere opted for some lighter fare Saturday night, attending a live HBO special featuring comedian George Carlin at the Beacon Theatre. The laugh ofthe night likely made it worthwhile ... when Carlin suggested letting the firefighters and police take care of Osama Bin Laden and his co-conspirators, generating a massive cheer from the audience. Others attending the show shook the firefighters hands, asked where they were from and what they were doing in the city.
Later Saturday night, others were still in their dress uniforms at 1 a.m. checking out the city’s happenings, many on their first trip into the city. From small towns to big cities, they shared a common goal and a common grief, just expressing it in a multitude of ways.
SUNDAY: The Chaplain, Ground Zero
U.S. Senator Chuck Shumer (NY) calls on President Bush to award fallen FDNY Chaplain Mychal Judge the U.S.
Medal of Freedom at a press conference Sunday morning at Engine 1/Ladder 24.
Lon Slepicka/Firehouse.com
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On Sunday morning, when tens of thousands of firefighters had been expected to be marching toward Madison Square Garden, a smaller crowd gathered at the Church of St. Francis of Assisi a block away instead at the previously planned annual memorial service of the FDNY’s Holy Name Society. A few firefighters from out of town attended, but it was mostly a private moment for the FDNY to remember all of those lost in its history -- now more than 1,000 men and women following the Sept. 11 tragedy.
Afterwards, at Engine 1/Ladder 24 across the street -- where Chaplain Judge dined just about every evening -- Sen. Chuck Shumer (NY) called on President Bush to award Judge the U.S. Medal of Freedom. Judge died while administering last rites to injured and fallen firefighters at the World Trade Center.
At 1 p.m., a busload of Los Angeles firefighters, with some other California responders and a boxing team from the U.S. Air Force Academy in tow, packed a standing-room-only bus bound for Ground Zero from their hotel.
Once there, firefighters wearing everything from casual clothes with an FDNY memorial cap to dozens in full dress uniform took in what was the scene of the largest loss of emergency responders in American history.
Three visiting firefighters are solemn as they leave a special area at Ground Zero set up for firefighters and
other out of town rescuers to view the site.
Firehouse.com Staff Photo
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Some had taken the train to the city for just the day to attend a memorial service for the fallen emergency medical workers still being held, or just to see and do what they could.
Together the responders walked alongside thousands ofother citizens around the base of ground zero.
Some stopped at a memorial wall near City Hall. They ignored the dozens of street vendors peddling FDNY and World Trade Center images and gifts, instead focusing on the surreal site of the massive, indescribable open space in the middle of the Financial District. One might think it was just another construction site, as the last of the largest parts of the main tower walls had since been removed ... but everyone knew otherwise.
In just an hour, more than 200 firefighters from aspectrum of the United States entered a special area of the site off Broadway where firefighters could pay their respects. A State Trooper and NYPD officer checked ID’s as the visiting firefighters, police officials and even some Red Cross workers made their way to the inner part of the site.
Most came out solemn and somber, some crying, others discussing what they had just seen. Still others said that they wished they hadn’t come ... others wishing they had come sooner. Some took photos ... but it would be hard to ever forget what they had seen.
For most, the images from Ground Zero -- a massive area busy with construction workers and emergency workers still sifting through tons of rubble -- were their final -- and most sobering -- stop on a weekend of remembering and honoring their fallen brothers and sisters.
Photos of the fallen 11 members of Engine 40 and Ladder 35 in Manhattan adorn the front of the station,
flanked by cards, messages of support and flowers from around the world.
Dave J. Iannone/Firehouse.com
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The fact that there was no memorial service for all of the victims made no difference for those who made the journey. Many said they wouldreturn for the larger memorial service, while some noted that this weekend would be their only opportunity to pay their respects.
Yet still, what was observed in this 48 hour Manhattan weekend was just a small fraction of what will take place when all of the families of the FDNY bravest lost are ready for the tens of thousands of firefighters and emergency workers from around the world to come to this resurgent city when the formal memorial is held.
For now, though, whether the visitors attended an individual firefighter’s memorial service or just placed a flower at the base of Ground Zero, they all took more home with them than they had arrived with ...in their minds and in their hearts.
And most importantly, all 344 heroes lost were remembered and honored by heroes in their own right.
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