JOSEPH COLEMAN
Associated Press Writer
PARIS (AP) -- Retired firefighter John Vigiano stood silently Friday as he accepted a French award on behalf of the New York Fire Department for courage in the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
But on his mind was his personal loss: two of his sons were killed when the World Trade Center collapsed.
``They were heroes,'' said Vigiano of Deer Park, N.Y., showing the photographs of his fallen sons - one a firefighter and one a detective - that he keeps taped on the inside of his blue cap.
Vigiano, a retired captain with 36 years in the department, and five other firefighters accepted France's Gold Medal for an Act of Courage and Devotion in a ceremony at the Interior Ministry.
The World Trade Center attacks killed 343 firefighters.
The firefighters stood in formation as French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy pinned the medal on a red and white NYFD flag and a marching band played the Star Spangled Banner.
The firefighters and family members of colleagues killed in the attacks are in France to mark the signing of a cooperation agreement between the New York and Paris fire departments. They will also attend celebrations Sunday marking Bastille Day, France's national holiday.
``This is spectacular,'' said Adam Vilagos, a firefighter based in Brooklyn. ``I think it's a great honor for the fire department.'' He called it a ``once-in-a-lifetime'' opportunity.
Squads of Paris firefighters and the national police also attended the ceremony.
The Bastille Day parade this year will include a squad of more than 160 cadets from West Point in New York. The cadets are guests of the French military academy of St. Cyr invited to celebrate the two institutions' 200th anniversary - both founded in 1802.
The cadets held a practice march early Friday down the sweeping Champs-Elysees, site of the Bastille Day parade.
The inclusion this year of the cadets ``shows the American people that the French really appreciate what we've done,'' said cadet Olivia Zimmerman.
