UCCA, Port Authority Remember 9/11 Dead

Wreaths rest at the 9/11 Monument in the McManus Park Memorial Grove.

The United Community Civic Association (UCCA) and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey held the sixth annual Candlelight Memorial Ceremony for the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on Wednesday, September 12 in McManus Memorial Park at 81st Street and the Grand Central Service Road in Astoria Heights. The observances began at 7:30 p.m. "A sea of candles came alight as the sun set. It was beautiful," UCCA President Rose Marie Poveromo commented. "I'm very pleased at the number of people who remember." Some 500 people attended.

As well as members of the Port Authority who came to salute their fallen comrades, members of the New York City Police Department, the New York City Fire Department, Emergency Medical Services, including members of EMS station 49 in Long Island City, the Junior ROTC of Long Island City and Inspector Brian McCarthy, commanding officer of the 114th Precinct, within the bounds of which McManus Memorial Park lies, were present. Although the EMS and Fire Department personnel were called away shortly after the ceremony began, Kathleen Fuchs of EMS was able to attend, Poveromo noted.

(L. to r.): City Councilmembers Peter Vallone Jr. and Helen Sears, state Senator George Onorato, UCCA President Rose Marie Poveromo and Assemblymember Michael Gianaris.

Poveromo said that state Senators George Onorato and John Sabini also attended and spoke, as did Borough President Helen Marshall, Assemblymember Michael Gianaris and City Councilmembers Peter Vallone Jr., Helen Sears and Eric Gioia and representatives of Assemblymember Catherine Nolan and Congressmembers Carolyn Maloney and Joseph Crowley. Poveromo noted that Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who could not be present in person, nevertheless sent his regards.

Honoring the occasion with their presence were retired New York City Fire Department Deputy Chief Alexander Santora, his wife, Maureen, and Megan and Kathleen, two of their three daughters. The Santoras' only son, Christopher, a probationary firefighter, who gave up a promising teaching career to follow his father into the Fire Department, at 23 years of age was the youngest New York City firefighter to die on 9/11. Megan and Kathleen Santora joined the United States Army after the terrorist attacks and were recently mustered out after serving several tours of duty.

Refreshments served after the ceremony were donated by the Port Authority, the city Department of Corrections and Mandell Key Foods. "These three organizations have always been generous [in their contributions of comestibles to the ceremony]," Poveromo said.

Port Authority and UCCA officers laid wreaths at the monument to the dead of 9/11, which is in a grove of trees dedicated by UCCA and the PA after the attacks. A boulder bears a brass plaque reading "In memory of the 84 employees of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey who lost their lives in the attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001." Poveromo said, however, that the service, at which several clergy from local churches delivered brief homilies, commemorated all who died at the hands of murderous fanatics. "I'm sure we'll never forget the slaughter of the innocents that occurred on 9/11," she said. "The war we're in now will continue for decades because there are radicals who don't want us to live the way we live. but they had better not think they can roll over our people. We have a strong heart and we can't let them win."