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At age 9, South Carolina's Grant Gillbert repeatedly donated his lunch money to help buy a new fire truck for the FDNY after 9/11.
On Saturday, Grant, now 16, finally got to see the rig that he and other South Carolina children bought Ladder 102 in Brooklyn. The kids raised a half-million dollars.
"Every week my mom gave me $20 for lunch money and I'd sneak $5 to put in the bucket. Some days I had to do without French fries," the shy teen said Saturday. "It's definitely worth it. It can't get any better."
The White Knoll High School marching band was in town to play at Carnegie Hall this weekend when they got a special invitation to visit the Red Hook Raiders firehouse, which received the truck in 2002.
Seven firefighters from Ladder 102 died at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, and their names are etched on the new truck.
"Those seven will always be riding on this rig. Their spirit will always be there," said retired Fire Chief Tom Giordano, who was a captain at Ladder 102 in 2001.
Yesterday, the marching band played "God Bless America" and "New York, New York" to salute the Bravest.
"Having these kids here is a fitting tribute to their legacy," Fire Capt. Mike Kendall said of the firefighters killed on 9/11.
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