INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Firefighters on Friday remembered the lives lost as they stepped into a day they cannot forget.

Members of Indianapolis Professional Firefighters Local 416 union led to a downtown remembrance event to honor the 2,977 people who died on Sept. 11, 2001.

The services focused on honoring the 343 New York City Fire Department firefighters who died while trying to rescue others.

Union members rang bells at the time each plane crashed, hosted a remembrance Mass, marched in a 1.7-mile memorial parade and held a ceremony outside Indianapolis Fire Department Station 13.

Alongside the FDNY firefighters, the 66 members of Indiana Task Force 1, a search-and-rescue squad that served at Ground Zero also received honors.

According to former Task Force 1 Capt. Gerald George, 40% of those 66 members have developed health issues from their time in New York City, and six have died.

“We remember them as part of the same sacred line of duty. Their sacrifice was slower, but it was no less real,” said President Tony Murray of the union.

Organizers read the names of people who died and laid a wreath in their honor.

George said, “Those men and women knowingly worked in those conditions because they believed there still might be hope that someone was alive and that they could be found.”

The ceremony’s guest of honor was retired FDNY firefighter Ron Parker, who arrived at Ground Zero just hours after the first plane hit. “What I saw was flames, steel girders that looked like twisted pretzels. Nothing was taller than maybe 12-15 stories of a pile of all this debris. And I said to myself, ‘Where did two 110-story buildings go?’”

Parker said he was happy to see 343 flags planted in the ground outside the Local 416 memorial, one for every firefighter who died. Of those 343, Parker said he knew 45 of them personally.

“What we see here is a testament to all the people who remember us. It’s really important and it’s a beautiful sight. It makes you think of your friends and the people that support us. Makes me feel good that I’m an American. We’ll get through all of our whatever. We’re still the greatest country in the world.”

About The Author

See author's posts