by ARI PAUL
Detroit Firefighter Joyce Stoll has come to New York every Sept. 11 for the Fire Department memorial in Riverside Park in Manhattan, and seven years after 343 FDNY members were killed in the attacks, she believed it was harder emotionally to watch the ceremony.
"It's heartbreaking to see that the crowds are getting smaller and smaller," she said before firefighters read the names of the fallen on the morning of Sept. 11. "Every year, less and less. People can't forget."
'Could Have Been Any of Us'
She added, "You're looking at women walking by with babies, and their babies are seven years old, and you're wondering, 'Oh my.'''
Ms. Stoll came with 10 other Detroit firefighters. She noted that the firefighters from other cities — including Ottawa, Canada — come to the event in solidarity.
"It could have been any of us anywhere," she said.
The ceremony at the Fire Memorial on the Upper West Side is one of numerous firefighter ceremonies held Sept. 11, including those at individual firehouses throughout the city and at the World Trade Center site.
But that is the one event Ms. Stoll feels compelled to attend. "The firefighter brotherhood brings us here," she said.
The FDNY lost substantially more members — 343 — than other response agencies such as the Police Department and the Port Authority Police. In addition to the Firefighters, fire officers and one Paramedic killed during the attacks, the department lost several Assistant Chiefs, First Deputy Commissioner William M. Feehan, Chief of Department Peter J. Ganci, Jr., and its chaplain, Mychal Judge.
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