Daughters and Dads

FF Josephine Smith FDNY Division 39 &

FF Kevin Smith FDNY HAZMAT 1

(End of Watch:  September 11, 2001)

Photo Credit: 

Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation

Josephine Smith was thirty-four in November 2014, when she graduated from the FDNY Academy and joined the department where her father had worked for roughly half of his life.  She was the first female FDNY legacy. 

She was also the first daughter of one of the FDNY's 343 heroes who died on September 11, 2001 to follow in her father's footsteps.  FF Kevin Smith was a charter member of one of the FDNY's elite units, HAZMAT 1, in Maspeth, Queens, having served there since its inception in 1984. Following the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, he was detailed to the Mayor's Office of Emergency Management. His wife, Jerri, said that it was by conscious choice and deliberate design that he took on the most dangerous aspect of a dangerous occupation.  

At the time of his death on September 11, 2001, Kevin Smith was forty-seven.  He had served and protected the people of New York City as a member of the FDNY for twenty-three years.  Prior to joining the FDNY, he served this nation as a United States Marine. He and Jerri were the proud parents of eight:  Brian, Tommy, Christopher, Josephine, Jennifer, Vincent, Tony, and Nicole.  

On September 11, 2001, FF Smith and his brothers from HAZMAT 1 were rescuing people from the South Tower of the World Trade Center when it collapsed at 9:59 a.m.  Eleven members of HAZMAT 1 died that morning in the South Tower.  

In a perfect world, the Smiths, father and daughter, might have had the opportunity to work together in their dream job, serving and protecting New York City.  Tragically, it was an opportunity that the fates would not allow.  The fates could not keep Josephine Smith from following her dream. The fates could not keep Josephine Smith from blazing her own path while following in her father's footsteps. 

And the world is a better place because of her resilience...

Image Credit: 

betterangels911.com

...as it was because of her father's.   

-AK