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9/11 Firefighters, PA Police Remembered
This year, "those who voluntarily assumed the role of protectors on that day" include the 37 Port Authority Police Department (PAPD) officers who died on Sept. 11, 2001 as well as the 76 New York City firefighters who rushed into the burning World Trade Center Towers to save as many people as they could. Ceremonies will also honor the only police dog known to have died during the attacks on the Towers, and possibly the only such dog to die in a terrorist attack on American soil. The idea for a monument to the PAPD arose when Sergeant Tom Hoey of the PAPD went to St. Michael's offices on business and saw the firefighters' memorial. The monument will be similar to that for New York City firefighters, with memorial medallions into which a visitor will be able to plug in a set of headphones and hear the life story of an individual PAPD officer. The firefighters' monument also has an image etched into it of a firefighter.
Sirius, the dog also commemorated during thee September 8 ceremonies, was a Golden Retriever who graduated from the Port Newark K9 Center on July 15, 2000 as Explosive Detection Dog, Badge No. 17 and was a member of the Port Authority Police Department. His job was to sniff out explosives in packages and other items deemed suspicious. On the morning of September 11, 2001, Sirius and his partner, Officer David Lim, were at their Port Authority Police Station in the basement of the World Trade Center's Tower Two. When Lim heard the sound of an explosion, he thought a bomb had gone off inside the building. "That must be one we missed," he said to his canine partner. Lim knew he would need both hands free to help evacuate civilians from the building. Consequently, Lim left Sirius in his basement cage, where he believed he would be safe, assured the dog he would be back to get him and raced upstairs into the North Tower. Just as he reached the 44th floor, the second plane crashed into the South Tower. As Lim escorted civilians down the fire stairs to safety, the building began to collapse. He and those he was assisting found themselves standing in the remains of a crumbled fifth floor fire stairway that had not collapsed completely. Lim and those with him were trapped in the falling debris of Tower One for more than five hours but were eventually evacuated with the aid of ropes tossed to them by other rescuers. Once he knew his civilian evacuees were safe, Lim tried to make his way back down to the severely damaged basement police station in Tower Two to rescue Sirius. Other rescuers stopped him because the area was too dangerous to enter. Sirius' body was recovered on January 22, 2002. With Lim present, Sirius received full Police Honors when his body was carried out. The plan for the original firefighters' memorial arose when another hero of the 9/11 attacks was buried at St. Michael's. Christopher Santora, a Queens College graduate, turned down an appointment as a teacher at I.S. 10 to become a Fire Department "probie". On the job for just eight months on 9/11, Santora and his colleagues at his Manhattan firehouse, Engine Company 54, sped off to the burning World Trade Center, never to return. At 23 years old, Santora was one of the youngest firefighters in the department's history and is believed to be the youngest to die when the Twin Towers collapsed. Remains found weeks after September 11 at Ground Zero were identified by the Medical Examiner as those of Firefighter Jose Guadalupe. After the Guadalupe family held services and buried the remains, DNA analysis later revealed the remains to be those of Christopher Santora. Santora was re-interred at St. Michael's Cemetery. Later, retired Fire Department Deputy Chief Alexander Santora, his wife, Maureen, and their surviving children, Megan, Jennifer, Alexander and Katherine, helped to establish a memorial to the New York City firefighters who had lived and/or worked in Queens and who died on 9/11 as well as to Christopher. They also established the Christopher Santora Educational Scholarship Fund for children attending the schools that Christopher Santora, a native of Astoria, attended or taught at and for the sons and daughters of firefighters at local fire companies and companies where Christopher Santora served who have graduated from their respective high schools. The ceremonies at St. Michael's honor the firefighters and Port Authority police officers who ignored the fact that their act of bravery would surely cost them their own lives. "They took on an obligation, responsibility and duty that few of us would accept," Horn noted. "As they served us without hesitation, we are obligated to remember each one of these proud men and women, especially by congregating at sites where memorials dedicate our presence as tribute to them and to their families, left with conflicting memories and unfulfilled dreams of lives ended too soon." St. Michael's is not a warehouse of the past, Sirius, the dog graduated from the but instead celebrates life, Horn added. "The Port Newark K-9 Center on July 15, memories that connect us all intersect during visits 2000 as Explosive Detection Dog, to cemeteries," he said. "When we gather at a Badge No. 17 and was a member of the time of remembrance, we join in the sorrow of Port Authority Police Department. His separation from a loved one, yet we gain strength job was to sniff out explosives in packages from friends and family members who recall and and other items deemed suspicious. rejoice in a life lived well." On the morning of September The 2006 memorial services for 9/11 victims 11, 2001, Sirius and his partner, will take place at St. Michael's Cemetery, 73-02 Officer David Lim, were at their Port Astoria Blvd., East Elmhurst, on Friday, Authority Police Station in the basement September 8 at 1 p.m. To RSVP, call 718-278of the World Trade Center's 3240. Tower Two. |
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