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A Brooklyn firefighter who lost his brother in the September 11th attacks has been chosen to join Pope Benedict XVI in prayer at the World Trade Center site on Sunday. NY1's Solana Pyne filed the following report.
Tom Riches of East New York, Brooklyn was just 15 years old when his firefighter brother Jimmy died at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.
Now, Tom Riches is age 22 and a firefighter like his brother, and on Sunday he will be one of 16 people who will have the opportunity to pray with the Pope Benedict XVI at the WTC site.
Riches's name was entered in the New York Archdiocese's lottery by a friend – and Riches did not know about the contest until he was chosen.
"I thought it was a joke at first, someone playing a prank on me," said Riches. "You know, it's not every day you get a phone call telling you you're going to go pray with the pope."
Tom's brother, Jimmy Riches, was among the first firefighters to respond to the Towers, and died a day before his 30th birthday. His body was found next to a stretcher, and his family believes he was trying to help someone when the North Tower collapsed.
"They had teamed up in the lobby. They went up to the 30th floor and they got word to evacuate, so they evacuated," said Tom Riches. "The company he was with made it out, his company stayed in the lobby."
Firefighting is a Riches family tradition. Tom works in the same firehouse where his father James Riches worked until he was forced to retire due to lung damage from working at the WTC site. Each of Tom Riches's older brothers also joined "New York's Bravest."
The Riches say the pope will be blessing what they consider to be sacred ground.
"Any memory we have of that, of September 11th, is painful and hurtful," said Tom Riches. "And, you know, it's good that years later now, we're able to go down there and pray and bless the ground that's always been sacred for us."
James Riches and two surviving sons carried Jimmy's body out of the site on March 25, 2002.
"Right in the same ramp, and the same place where the pope is going to be. He's going to bless that ground, and it means a lot," said James Riches.
James Riches will be waiting at the top of that same ramp Sunday, while his son descends with the Pope.
"There are still 1,100 families that have never recovered anything and that's like a cemetery to them, so the Pope going down there to bless that will give them a little peace," said James Riches.
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