Bellmore F.D. pays homage to 9/11 victims

Dozens gathered at Bellmore Fire Department headquarters for a somber service commemorating the 13th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks last Thursday.

The department hosted the memorial outside the Pettit Avenue firehouse. Here, they department erected a monument to the fallen that includes a World Trade Center steel beam.

Department Chaplain Dennis Rich called on attendees to never forget those killed on 9/11 in New York, Washington, D.C. and Pennsylvania. The department also honored the three New York City firefighters and Bellmore volunteers who died in the attacks and their aftermath: Adam Rand, Kevin Prior and Sean McCarthy.

Bellmore volunteers placed wreaths at the foot of the monument, with the three victims’ names emblazoned on a ribbon spread across red, white and blue flowers. Family members were invited to lay flowers under the beam.

Mary Ann Rand and Gerard Prior memorialized their sons, who died in the World Trade Center on the day of the attacks. Stacey McCarthy honored her late husband, Sean, who died of cancer in 2008 after developing health problems because he was exposed to contaminated air at ground zero.

The Bellmore Fire Department bell tolled while residents stood behind rows of saluting firefighters. Attendees then walked to nearby St. Barnabas Roman Catholic Church for a Mass of Remembrance.

Joseph Coschignano, St. Barnabas’s pastor, said the service is held annually so that residents can come together on a day filled with tragedy and sadness. He added that the St. Barnabas Church community especially remembers parishioners whose lives were lost, including Rand, Prior, Andrew Stern, Manuel Mojica, Gary Box, William Esposito, Lee Fehling, Bruce Gary and Joseph Mistrulli.