9/11 Remembrance Park Ceremony – Smithtown First in Nation
Sunday under the hot September morning sun, a hundred plus gathered at the First Responder’s Park in Nesconset including members of the Smithtown and Nesconset Fire Department. A large American Flag was draped adjacent to the park – held up by two rigs.
The first such park of its kind, it pays tribute to all those lost after the country’s national tragedy on 9/11. John Feal is the ball of energy and persistence behind the nation’s very first First Responder’s Memorial, it is call the 9/11 Responders Remembrance Park. He was also the M.C. for the somber event mixing his humor with the seriousness of the occasion with tears of his own escaping at times.
Sadly on Sunday, amongst local politicians, Congressman Lee Zeldin and countless First Responders and families of those lost, thirty-two more names were unveiled on the wall. Said wall contains the names of those from Suffolk County lost in the last fourteen years since our country was attacked on our own soil in downtown Manhattan in Washington and in Pennsylvania.
Never Forget has become a mantra for 9/11 but for Feal he says we must never forget the heroes who survived that day but became sick since then. A beautiful acoustic ballad was written for the occasion and played by J.D., a friend of Feals. It seems Feal has befriended most of the county and some in Washington. That includes the County Executive Steve Bellone who he teased unmercifully for being late. “Mr. Tardy Pants is here,” he said in front of the laughing crowd as he arrived. The humor was a welcome emotion amongst the pervasive sadness that prevailed.
The talented pipers from St. Anthony’s played as the crowd stood for God Bless America. During the Benediction, the Reverend Bill Minison said “Bless Our Leader John Feal and continue to give him wisdom, those that died since that day were heroes and we honor and respect those that died also on that fateful dark day but all those uniform and non-uniforms who have died since, the Army of Angels.”
“The left a legacy of greatness,” he continued. He also prayed for the positive fate of the Zagroda Bill that has aided many families of the men and women who served this nation at Ground Zero. It is named for a First Responder who perished after 9/11 from a related illness as so many have over the last fourteen years.
Zeldin is a former NYS legislator who won a historic election in the fall taking the First Congressional Seat from a longtime incumbent. Congressman Lee Zeldin serves on three U.S. House Committees: Transportation & Infrastructure, Foreign Affairs and Veterans’ Affairs, as well as several House subcommittees, including the Subcommittee on Aviation, which he serves as Vice Chairman.
He also serves on the Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation, the Subcommittee on Railroad, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials, the Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs, the Subcommittee the Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa, and the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade.
Congressman Zeldin serves as co-chairman of the House Republican Israel Caucus, which has over 100 members as well as several others.
Zeldin is an active member of the Army Reserves and served in Iraq so ceremonies like Sundays are quite personal to him. He spent four years on Active Duty with the U.S. Army and served in different capacities including as a Military Intelligence Officer, Federal Prosecutor and Military Magistrate. In the summer of 2006, while assigned to the Army’s elite 82nd Airborne Division, Lee deployed to Iraq with an infantry battalion of fellow paratroopers in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The amount of and type of committee positions the young Congressman sits on are considered quite elite for a freshman.
“This isn’t a New York Challenge, fire and rescue came from across this country from coast to coast,” said Zeldin. He said it took an attack on American soil to make the entire world realize how great this country is.
Feal praised Zeldin for his enormous support. “On a scale of 1 to 10 he gave us 22%,” he shared. Zeldin said so many were moved and so inspired by that day where the worst of human nature made an appearance that they went to their local recruiters to sign up. “They did it for the love of their country,” he added. He said we still have men and women serving who signed up after 9/11.
Feal then introduced Joe Daniels President of the National First Responder’s Memorial. “I guess I beat him up a little in the papers over the years,” laughed Feal and Daniels when introducing the now friend.
“I was headed to the South Tower and it was like Rush Hour in reverse, I saw smoke and the first jumper – everyone was running away when a woman grabbed me and said the Pentagon was hit,” he shared.
“We must never forget the people lining the West Side Highway cheering the First Responders,” he added. He said much good came from that day with people sending food and supporting the First Responders and they did so for weeks and weeks. The Pope is scheduled to visit Ground Zero on his American tour in a few weeks.
Bellone said the park was beautiful and inspiring. Feal then introduced the President of the Park, Martin Aponte. Aponte wasn’t a First Responder, he watched like so many American from his television as America was attacked by Islamic extremists. However, he stepped up to run the park. “My only goal is to honor those we lost – to honor their heroism,” said Aponte. He says this story is remarkable a story of recovery workers and who came down to help and that must be preserved. “We saw the worst of the worst and the best of the best, we must take care of those who came down to help,” he ended.
Feal introduced former County Legislator and County Comptroller John Kennedy who the park is named after. Feal laughed announcing his various positions saying he could be King of the Universe someday. Kennedy’s wife who now occupies his legislative seat also gave some commentary while fighting off tears.
Every year a flag is retired to make way for a new one, this year’s flag went to the wife of a fallen First Responder and a member of the Board of Directors for the Park, Judi Simmons.
The giant slab of granite which is now a beautiful monument was designed by Smithtown architect Mark Mancini, also the President of the Smithtown Chamber. The park was once a pile of dirt and the memorial once a giant rock. Today Smithtown has a Smithtown Park with a magnificent and befitting monument. Bellone’s sentiments echoed many that day, “we are here to represent the indomitable spirit this nation has and we will prevail.”
Thirty two new names were read, each followed by the ring of a bell. Men and women in the crowd wept and then the names were unveiled.
THE MISSION OF THE FEEL GOOD FOUNDATION
Their Mantra is: No Responder Left Behind
The secondary mission of the FGF is to assist all emergency personnel, including but not limited to, construction workers, police officers, firefighters, nurses, volunteers, sanitation workers and transportation workers, within the United States who have been injured, or face serious injury due to proposed action or omission, in the course of their duties or within their everyday lives. To donate, find out more information or buy apparel online at www.fealgoodfoundation.com