by MICHAEL JANOFSKY
WASHINGTON, Sept. 9 - President Bush on Friday awarded a Public Safety Officer Medal of Valor to each of the 442 public safety officers who died on Sept. 11, calling them "men and women of uncommon valor and decency and honor." Mr. Bush cited four by name - Donny Regan, a firefighter from the Bronx; Ronnie Gies, a firefighter from Queens; Thomas Jurgens, a New York State court officer; and Moira Smith, a city police officer. "All the brave men and women we recognize today brought credit to the uniform and honor to the United States of America," Mr. Bush said at the White House to 1,200 friends and relatives of the dead. The public servants killed in the World Trade Center attack included 343 firefighters, 37 Port Authority police officers and 23 city police officers. Firefighter Regan, a 17-year veteran, had been cited six times for bravery. Officer Smith pulled a man to safety before dying in the collapse. Firefighter Gies was a 13-year veteran whose son, Tommy, is a Brooklyn firefighter. Officer Jurgens died, Mr. Bush said, when he stayed to help despite an order to leave the area. Dena Smagala, who was pregnant with their daughter, Alexa, when her husband, Stanley Smagala, a Brooklyn firefighter, was killed, told The Associated Press at the ceremony: "This means everything, everything that my husband stood for and worked for, and it will mean more to my daughter when she's old enough to understand, because she never knew him."
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