On September 11, 2001, the FDNY lost 343 members. It was, and remains, the largest single-day casualty count the FDNY has incurred in its storied history.
In the twenty years since, the FDNY has lost another 254 members to 9/11-related illnesses. A report released a couple of weeks ago, just prior to the 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks estimated that more than 2/3 of the roughly 16,000 FDNY firefighters and EMTs who either responded to the Twin Towers of who worked the pile at "Ground Zero" in the ten months thereafter have been diagnosed with some kind of long-term illness, including more than 3,000 who have been diagnosed with at least one form of cancer.
23 members of the NYPD died in the line of duty at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. In the two decades since, the Department has lost more than 250 members to 9/11-related illnesses.
If someone should ever suggest to you that the events of September 11, 2001 should - twenty years further on up the road - after you knock him or her unconscious and then resuscitate them, feel free to point out to them that the events of that day will never be forgotten because they continue to resonate with force and terrible effect. Then perhaps acquaint them with the perpetually-tenacious John Feal and his incredible work at the FealGood Foundation.
No man is an island. Never forget it.
-AK
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