9/11 Glade honors heroes and victims
BY GABE HERMAN
A new section of the 9/11 Memorial
recently opened to the
public, following a dedication
ceremony the same morning.
The 9/11 Memorial Glade honors
rescue, recovery and relief workers,
along with survivors and members of
the Lower Manhattan community who
are sick or have died from 9/11-related
illnesses.
The memorial’s design includes a
pathway fl anked by six large stone
monoliths, each inlaid with World
Trade Center steel.
The site is in the southwest area of
the memorial site, next to the South
Pool, where the South Tower once
stood. This is where a main ramp was
used during the recovery period after
9/11, which gave access to bedrock.
The ramp was used by workers removing
debris and gave victims’ families
access to the site.
The new memorial’s opening day,
May 30, was the 17th anniversary of
the end of the Ground Zero cleanup
efforts.
The Memorial Glade was designed
by the original architects of the 9/11
Memorial, Michael Arad and Peter
Walker, to keep an aesthetic continuity
at the overall site.
Many thousands of people have gotten
9/11-related illnesses since the terror
attacks. The 9/11 Victim Compensation
Fund, which started in 2011, has
received about 40,000 applications so
far.A
nd more people are only now
starting to realize that their
health issues are related to 9/11, attorney
Michael Barasch recently told this
paper.
The crowd at the dedication ceremony
included many with 9/11-related illnesses,
and family members of others.
And they were the fi rst ones to enter
the new memorial when it offi cially
opened around 11 a.m.
One of the speakers at the ceremony
was Caryn Pfeifer, a 9/11 health
advocate and wife of late New York
City fi refi ghter Raymond J. Pfeifer,
who was also a 9/11 health advocate.
She was joined on the stage by their
son Terence, a current member of the
New York Fire Department, and their
daughter Taylor, who serves adults living
with disabilities.
Raymond Pfeifer spent the nine
months after the attacks searching and
digging at Ground Zero, Caryn said.
He died on May 28, 2017, from cancer
linked to exposure to toxins at the
World Trade Center.
Caryn said that her husband participated
in the efforts at Ground Zero
without being asked or told to, and
without thinking of the consequences.
“But there were consequences,” she
said. “There was illness and pain and
death.”
“I know many of you are suffering
your own nightmares,” she said, including
responders and the local community,
which included students who
were in Lower Manhattan at the time.
“Lending each other support even in
the toughest times.”
Caryn Pfeifer said the Memorial
Glade reminded her of
her husband, who
used to say to do the right thing even
when no one was looking.
“What a beautiful place for our heroes,”
Caryn said. “A place that honors
the work they did, their honor and
strength.”
The Memorial Glade cost $5 million
to construct. Comedian Jon Stewart
helped in fundraising efforts. Stewart
also is an ardent advocate for 9/11-related
health benefi ts. Other funding came
from New
PHOTO BY GABE HERMAN
A family member left a photo and
flowers on the Memorial Glade,
which includes World Trade Center
steel.
York State, Bloomberg Philanthropies
and the Building Trades Unions.
“The effects of 9/11 are still being
felt and still being discovered,” said
former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who
is chairperson of the 9/11 Memorial &
Museum, speaking at the ceremony.
Bloomberg praised the people who
worked tirelessly in the nine-month
rescue and recovery efforts after the attacks,
including people who came from
all over the world.
“They showed what is possible when
people work together for a common
purpose,” he said. “Their selfl ess acts
provided light.”
Bloomberg said that many also
helped lead the fi ght to obtain health
benefi ts from the federal government.
“They truly are heroes,” he said of
the rescue and recovery workers. “I was
lucky to work alongside them as mayor
and we have lost too many of them.”
The dedication ceremony also included
a performance of “America
the Beautiful” by the Stuyvesant High
School Choruses.
Each end of the new memorial includes
an inscription, which reads, in
part, “This Memorial Glade is dedicated
to those whose actions in our time
of need led to their injury, sickness, and
death/Responders and recovery workers/
Survivors and community members/
Suffering long after September
11, 2001, from exposure to hazards
and toxins that hung heavy in the air
here and beyond this site known as
Ground Zero/And at the Pentagon and
near Shanksville, Pennsylvania/In the
aftermath of the terrorist attacks.”
PHOTO BY GABE HERMAN
At the dedication of the 9/11 Memorial Glade.
6 Month xx, 2019 CNW Schneps Media