Never Forgotten: FDNY FF Joseph Hunter

Fifteen days from now marks twenty-five years since September 11, 2001.  A quarter century has passed since that terrible Tuesday morning.  It is the duty of the living to remember those killed that day.  It is the duty of the living to make sure that the stories of their lives continue to echo through the years.  It is the duty of the living to ensure that those who were murdered that day are never forgotten. 

Joseph Gerard Hunter, thirty-one years old, was just eighteen days shy of his thirty-second birthday when he was killed at the World Trade Center while saving others on September 11, 2001.  At the age of 18, he joined the South Hempstead Volunteer Fire Department.  In 1994, he graduated from Hofstra University with a Bachelor's Degree in Business Management. 

He joined the FDNY in 1996.  He was assigned to Squad 288 in Maspeth, Queens.  He was one of six members of Squad 288 inside the South Tower rescuing civilians when the building collapsed.  His helmet was found in the rubble of Ground Zero. It is now displayed in the National September 11 Museum. 

Forever thirty-one.  Forever loved.  Forever remembered. 

-AK 

Never Forgotten: Roko Camaj

Sixteen days from now marks twenty-five years since September 11, 2001. A quarter century has passed since that terrible Tuesday morning.  It is the duty of the living to remember those killed that day.  It is the duty of the living to make sure that the stories of their lives continue to echo through the years. it is the duty of the living to ensure those who were murdered that day are never forgotten. 

Roko Camaj, sixty years old, had worked for ABM Industries since 1973, as a window washer at the World Trade Center. His domain was the upper floors of the South Tower, on which the windows were made from wider panes of glass to provide expansive views fromm the observation deck, which required the windows be washed by hand.  "It's just me and the sky.  I don't bother anybody and nobody bothers me." 

He came to the United States from Montenegro in 1969.  He lived with his wife, Katrina, in Manhasset, Long Island.  The Camajs were the proud parents of three grown children.  

Forever sixty. Forever loved. Forever remembered.

-AK

Never Forgotten: NYPD Officer John D'Allara, ESU 2

Seventeen days from now marks twenty-five years since September 11, 2001. A quarter century has passed since that terrible Tuesday morning.  It is the duty of the living to remember those killed that day.  It is the duty of the living to make sure that the stories of their lives continue to echo through the years. it is the duty of the living to ensure those who were murdered that day are never forgotten. 

John D'Allara, forty-seven years old, was accepted to the Police Academy in January 1983. He graduated from the Academy in June 1983. He was a police officer for slightly more than eighteen years. He spent the first four years of his career at the 46th Precinct, Bronx Task Force. For the final fourteen years of his career, he was a member of one of the NYPD's elite Emergency Services Units, ESU 2, which operated out of Harlem.  

Officer D'Allara and his wife, Carol, were the proud parents of two sons, John and Nicholas, who were seven and two years old respectively when Officer D'Allara was killed on September 11, 2001, in the collapse of the North Tower.  I recommend that between now and September 11, you invest the time to watch National Geographic's three-part series, 9/11 Reunited. Episode Three features the story of how Officer D'allara and FDNY Firefighter Bill Spade from Rescue 5 in Staten Island worked together to get a stuck door open, which saved the lives of almost two dozen people.  Officer D'Allara's two sons have followed their father's path into public service.  John is a reservist in the United States Marine Corps and Nicholas is an NPYD Police Officer, wearing his father's badge and working in his father's first precinct, the 46th in the Bronx. 

Forever forty-seven. Forever loved. Forever remembered. 

Never Forgotten: FDNY FF David Weiss

Eighteen days from now marks twenty-five years since September 11, 2001. A quarter-century has passed since that terrible Tuesday morning. It is the duty of the living to remember those killed that day. It is the duty of the living to make sure that the stories of their lives continue to echo through the years. It is the duty of the living to ensure those who were murdered that day are never forgotten. 

David Weiss, forty-one, had been a member of the FDNY for thirteen years. For the final six years of his FDNY career, he was a member of Rescue 1.  On September 11, 2001, FF Weiss was among the eleven members of Rescue 1 who responded to the World Trade Center. All eleven of them died there.  FF Weiss had two children, both of whom were teenagers when their father gave his life so others might live on September 11, 2001. 

Forever forty-one. Forever loved. Forever remembered. 

-AK 

Never Forgotten: Deborah Kobus

Nineteen days from now marks twenty-five years since September 11, 2001. A quarter-century has passed since that terrible Tuesday morning. It is the duty of the living to remember those killed that day. It is the duty of the living to make sure that the stories of their lives continue to echo through the years. It is the duty of the living to ensure those who were murdered that day are never forgotten. 

Deborah Kobus, thirty-six, at the end of the 2000-2001 Colorado ski season, had returned to New York from Aspen where she had worked at the St. Regis Hotel, to help her brother, Robert, care for their mother, who had Alzheimer's Disease. Shortly after she returned to New York, she got a job on Wall Street, as a Vice President at Chuo Mitsui Trust and Banking Company. She was in her office on the 83rd floor of the South Tower when hijacked United Airlines Flight 175 was flown into the building. 

On Labor Day, 2001, Deborah Kobus had become engaged to Alexander Setzler. The couple met in Aspen, Colorado, when she began working at the St. Regis.   

Forever thirty-six. Forever loved. Forever remembered. 

-AK 

Never Forgotten: Paul Joseph Simon

Twenty days from now marks twenty-five years since September 11, 2001. A quarter century has passed since that terrible Tuesday morning. It is the duty of the living to remember those killed that day. It is the duty of the living to make sure that the stories of their lives continue to echo through the years. It is the duty of the living to ensure those who were murdered that day are never forgotten. 

Paul Joseph Simon ran a computer consulting firm, DAU Systems. On the morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001, he was visiting a client, Marsh & McLennan, on the 97th floor of the North Tower when hijacked American Airlines Flight 11 was deliberately flown into the building.  He and his wife, Shelley, had been married for thirty-one years at the time of his death. They had been together for forty years, when they were teenagers in the Catskills. They lived in Staten Island, New York, and had a summer home on Long Beach Island, New Jersey, in Beach Haven. 

Forever fifty-four. Forever loved. Forever remembered. 

-AK 

Never Forgotten: Robert Hayes

Twenty-one days from today marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of September 11, 2001. A quarter century has passed since that terrible Tuesday morning. It is the duty of the living to remember those killed that day. It is the duty of the living to make sure that the stories of their lives continue to echo through the years. It is the duty of the living to ensure that those who were murdered that day are never forgotten. 

Robert Hayes was a Massachusetts man. He was born in Medford and at the time of his death, he lived in Amesbury with his wife, Debbie, and their two small children, Robbie and Ryan, who were just four years old and eight months old respectively on the day their father was murdered. He and Debbie met at Logan Airport in 1989.  He had missed his flight and she was the customer services agent for TWA who rebooked him. She said that after he returned from trip, he became a regular caller to her at the ticket counter - and not because he needed to book a flight. 

He worked for the Swiss firm, Netstal Machinery, and on that Tuesday morning a quarter-century ago, he boarded American Airlines Flight 11 at Boston's Logan Airport, bound for a bueiness meeting in Los Angeles.  

Forever thirty-seven. Forever loved. Forever remembered. 

-AK