Over 400 people gathered at the 9/11 Responders Remembered Park in Nesconset, New York, to honor the lives of the first responders who passed away from injuries they developed from serving that day. The granite walls that stretch across the park were engraved with 100 additional names on May 16 as a ceremony took place for all those whose loved ones sacrificed their lives at Ground Zero.
First responders honored with 9/11 memorial
According to Newsday.com, the memorial wall surrounds 20 feet of the park and reaches 6 feet high. As each name was added to the wall, it was read aloud followed by the ringing of a bell to properly recognize each life sacrificed for the safety of others. The ceremony was established five years ago and has since occurred twice a year, bringing together first responders, families and friends.
"We should be giving thanks to the 100 names we added and the 500 that are on the wall, because they give us validity," John Feal, president of the FealGood Foundation, a nonprofit that helped raise money to build the park, told Newsday.
Throughout the day, visitors stopped by to grieve and reminisce with loved ones during the ceremony, which included acoustic performances, a bagpipe rendition of "God Bless America" and the playing of "Taps."
Families gather to remember loved ones
Jeanne Stelmok of North Babylon, New York, was one of the many visitors at the ceremony. It was her first time seeing the park where her husband, Scott Stelmok, a retired New York Police Department captain who died after searching for survivors under the debris at Ground Zero, is included in the memorial. He had developed several forms of cancer and passed away in December 2014. Stelmok, her daughter and her mother drew over Scott's name with crayon on paper to take home as a special keepsake.
"This park stands for the principle that while so many of those first responders no longer stand among us, they will always be remembered and honored for standing up and responding at our nation's most dire moment," Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone explained to Newsday.
Long Island News 12 noted that many of the families present said they would be returning to the park regularly to honor their family or friends, emphasizing how important the park is to those who lost someone on 9/11.