NYT: A Hands-On Tribute to Firefighters' Pain and Valor on 9/11

A Hands-On Tribute to the Pain and Valor of 9/11
By DAVID W. DUNLAP
Published: June 11, 2006



There is that instant of horror to be relived, forever frozen in bronze. There are scenes of valor and camaraderie to be celebrated. But more than anything, there are names to be touched and traced: the Fire Department's 343 dead.

The first large-scale 9/11 monument at ground zero — a bold, literal and almost neo-Classical 56-foot-long bronze relief dedicated to the firefighters "who fell and to those who carry on" — was unveiled yesterday on the side of "10 House," the home of Engine Company 10 and Ladder Company 10, across Liberty Street from the World Trade Center.

In unison, members of the two companies removed six flag-bedecked panels that had been hiding the mural, then marched slowly away, revealing the full panorama, centered on the flaming towers, with heroic and humbled firefighters on either side.

Within moments of its unveiling, family members and firefighters in dress blues were on their knees at the mural, rubbing the inscribed names of those who died on Sept. 11, 2001, arranged by rank, from First Deputy Commissioner William M. Feehan to Paramedic Ricardo J. Quinn.

"I wish his name was not on that wall," said Miriam Juarbe, the mother of Firefighter Angel L. Juarbe Jr., as she clutched the rubbing she had just made. "He made us proud. He gave too much."...

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/11/nyregion/11memorial.html

.....all the O8) Firefighters of September 11, 2001 O8) without a huge lump in my throat. :patriot: