Kathleen Lynch Martens sat on a metal folding chair early this morning in Midtown Manhattan, clutching a hand-cut and yellowed newspaper clipping from March 13, 2002.
Ms. Martens, a retired attorney living in upstate New York, explained that it was the day the remains of her brother, Michael Lynch, were finally found, months after the Sept. 11 attacks.
Ms. Martens was one of dozens of family members of fallen firefighters part of the New York Fire Department Engine 54, Ladder 4, Battalion 9 who gathered for a memorial breakfast on Friday. All 15 firefighters who were sent out to respond after the twin towers were attacked had died, and were memorialized this morning on buttons, lanyards and sweaters worn by loved ones.
Standing by tables overflowing with bagels and sugar-dusted doughnuts, Ms. Martens and one of her sisters passed around the newspaper clipping, a memento of their brother who they referred to as Big Mike because of his lofty height.
“It’s more special, 25 years,” Ms. Martens said, looking around Engine 54 where the thick smell of coffee wafted over men in uniform ditching handshakes for hugs. “With everything going on in our country, I think it’s nice to reconnect. A lot of the parents of these guys are no longer here. It’s up to the siblings to continue the tradition.”
The breakfast was followed by a ceremony at the nearby Firefighters Memorial Park at Ritz Plaza, where firefighters from other countries, like Canada and New Zealand, and other American cities, like Chicago and Las Vegas, had come to honor Engine 54’s fallen men.
Some took their caps off, wiping away tears with white handkerchiefs, as bagpipes played.
Vaughn Mulder, a 56-year-old firefighter from Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, came with his son, also a firefighter.
“Most of the fire service now has been hired after 9/11 — it’s important for them to carry on the traditions that we pass on,” said Mr. Mulder, who wore a black tie with an American flag pin in the shape of a cross. “We are an extended family, the fire service; it’s important for us to get together so that we know each other, break bread with each other, just to keep that going.”
Linda Taccetta, 62, comes to Engine 54’s memorial every year even though she now lives in Pennsylvania. Her brother, Leonard Ragaglia, was one of Engine 54’s fallen firefighters.
“This is always our home,” Ms. Taccetta, a school administrator, said. “Even when we come to the city for anything, we come here. It’s part of your family,”
The arrival of September each year brings difficult emotions, she said.
“The days leading up to this, I get anxiety — I don’t think I can go,” Ms. Taccetta said. Someone with a patch on their jacket reading, “We will never forget,” passed by her.
“But then when I get here, it’s so comforting,” she added, “and I don’t think about anything.”
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