Commack firefighters demonstrated the meaning of “gone, but not forgotten” for a fallen brother.

Commack Fire Department held a memorial ceremony Feb. 17 for former member and New York police officer Charles Oddo, who was killed in the line of duty 22 years ago.

Oddo, an East Northport native and highway patrolman, died February 1996 after being struck by a car while placing flares around an overturned gas truck on the Gowanus Expressway. He was 33.

“Charles Oddo was a guardian and protector from his earliest years,” said Steve Silverman, a spokesman for the Commack Fire Department. “He transitioned from watching over his younger sister in this very park, to protecting the people of Commack. He continued to follow the calling to the NYPD’s elite Highway Patrol Unit.”

The ceremony was held at the former Verleye Park, which was renamed Charles A. Oddo Verleye Park in his honor June 2016. Oddo grew up within walking distance of the park and had played there as a child.

“Standing here brings back happy memories for me of a carefree time when life was simple, innocent, fun, filled with love and laughter under the protection of my brother,” said Maria Oddo Forger, Charles’ sister, at the park’s 2016 renaming.

Oddo graduated from John Glenn High School in 1981. In 1982, he joined the Commack Fire Department, where he served as a volunteer firefighter, paramedic and mechanic. The East Northport native became a member of the New York City Police Department in 1990 and was transferred to the Brooklyn highway unit five years later.