9/11 SALUTE
Rescue & recovery workers to get monument
RESCUE AND recovery workers who toiled at Ground Zero will be getting their own monument at the September 11th Memorial, Gov. Cuomo and former Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced Tuesday.
Cuomo and Bloomberg, along with former “Daily Show” host Jon Stewart, announced plans to create a commemorative space for the workers at the grassy clearing near the Survivor Tree, a site known as the Memorial Glade.
“Thousands of people converged at the World Trade Center site immediately after the attacks to show the world that our city and our country were not defeated,” Bloomberg said. “We owe these men and women of the recovery a great debt of gratitude, and they deserve a fitting tribute for their courage, sacrifice and bravery.”
Bloomberg is chairman of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum’s board, and Stewart is a board member.
The Memorial and Museum will design and develop the new tribute while the state, through its affiliates, and Bloomberg Philanthropies will provide funding and other support. “Fifteen years after 9/11, we still feel the pain and loss as if it were yesterday,” Cuomo said. “This new tribute will be a poignant reminder of the selflessness and courage of our first responders, who embody the best of New Yorkers, and ensure their sacrifice will never be forgotten.”
The announcement came as the Memorial and Museum held a ceremony Tuesday to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the formal end of recovery operations at the World Trade Center and the removal of the final steel beam from the site.
The ceremony included a moment of silence to honor those who died of 9/11-related illnesses.
“I think it’s overdue,” Salvatore Turtorici, 52, an FDNY EMT, said after the ceremony. “I know a lot of people who went down there and did the right thing. They were just doing what they had to do, and the community came together to try to help everybody.”