For the 19th anniversary of 9/11, the Rocky Point Fire Department’s annual ceremony in Shoreham was limited in attendance to mostly firefighters and a few residents. Despite the abbreviated ceremonies, it was still a solemn memorial to the many who have lost their lives during the World Trade Center terror attack and all those who died after.
The evening included firefighters from the Wading River, Miller Place and Ridge Fire Departments as well as the RPFD. Speeches by head of the 9/11 Memorial Committee David Singer and Fire Chief Adam DeLumen touched on how both partisan politics and the COVID-19 pandemic have led to division, but most can remember how Americans came together in solidarity after the attacks 19 years ago today. It was also a time to remember the thousands who have died as a result of adverse health effects caused from being at the scene when the towers fell.
As of June, 2020, 79,001 respondents and 26,271 survivors were enrolled in the Centers for Disease Control’s World Trade Center Health Program, of those, 58,933 have one or more certified health conditions. Now over 18,100 members have certified 9/11 related cancers. Every year the numbers rise.
“As we get further and further away from that terrible event 19 years ago, we must continue ceremonies like this all around the world to make certain that present and future generations never forget the lives lost and continue to lose because of 9/11- related illness,” Singer said.
DeLumen, in his speech, also noted that this year is likely to be his last year as chief of the department.
“I remember exactly what I was doing that day of the attack and feeling the fear of the unknown, this year has much the same feeling,” the chief said. “I remember the day after 9/11 … we all became became one nation and came together no matter what, the same way these first respondents have always done.”
