Listed below are the names of members of the FDNY who died as a result of working on the “pile.”
It is shameful that so many Americans demand closure from the 9/11 attacks believing it is time to “get past it!” Yet daily the number of deaths caused by the attack only increases.
Americans are proud to recall the heroics of the Greatest Generation and their sacrifices. On Memorial Day we wave the flag. We are enraged when anyone has the audacity to set fire to the flag. We are quick to threaten war when we feel threatened, insulted, or are dismissed. We arrange displays at the sites of tragedies. Tears fall and hugs are exchanged in the hope that the moment of sympathy will address the losses that will continue to the harm of families for generations.
So on Sept. 11 the families of those who died attend ground zero. Those who were blessed not to have sustained a death pause for a moment and move on without further thought. Other memorials and dedications have fewer and fewer people attending, leaving only the stricken to recall those who died saving others or because they cleaned up the rubble left behind. Congress debates funding health care for those made ill by the pile.
