First responder from Bayside gave his life on 9/11
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TIMESLEDGER | QNS.COM | DEC. 27-JAN. 2, 2020 13
In conjunction with the
Greater Astoria Historical
Society, TimesLedger
Newspapers presents noteworthy
events in the borough’s
history.
Many Arab Americans
and Muslim Americans have
acted heroically during the
attacks on the United States,
including Mohammad Salman
Hamdani, a 23-year-old
New Yorker of Pakistani descent.
He was a research scientist,
New York Police Department
cadet and Emergency
Medical Technician.
Mohammad had gone to the
World Trade Center to offer
rescue assistance.
He gave his life responding
to the World Trade Center
attack on Sept. 11, 2001.
Born in Karachi, Pakistan,
on Dec. 28, 1977 he came to
American as a baby. He grew
up in Bayside as the oldest of
three brothers.
His mother was a middle
school teacher and his father
owned a convenience store
in Brooklyn. As a schoolboy,
he played football at Bayside
High School before attending
Queens College, where
he graduated with a degree
in biochemistry in 2001.
While in college, he also
worked part time as an
EMT. That summer, the recent
graduate began work
as a research technician at
Rockefeller University, with
hopes to either enter medical
school or become a police
detective.
No one knows for sure
how Mohammad Hamdani
spent that last morning.
The young man from Bayside
probably saw the smoke
rising from the towers on his
way to work, and might have
hurried to the scene to help
victims.
His police cadet and EMT
IDs would have helped get
through traffic.
Hamdani never returned
home, and his family reported
him as missing.
In the days and weeks following
the attacks, government
officials went to the
Hamdani home in Bayside
with questions about their
son’s background and his
motives for wanting to join
the NYPD.
Missing person signs
were torn down and replaced
by wanted signs
with Mohammad Hamdani’s
picture.
Although originally suspected
as an accomplice
to the terrorists due to his
Muslim faith, Hamdani was
lauded as a hero after his
remains were recovered in
October 2001 alongside an ID
card and a medical bag, and
he was identified through
a DNA match the following
March.
Mohammad was buried
with full honors from the
New York Police Department,
and Commissioner
Ray Kelly memorialized him
as a hero.
In the Patriot Act, his
name is cited as an example
of American valor on that
unforgettable day.
There are scholarships in
his honor at Rockefeller University,
where he worked,
and at his alma mater,
Queens College.
Mohammad Hamdani is
memorialized at the National
September 11 Memorial at
the World Trade Center site,
but his name is not included
among the other North Tower
victims — it is on a separate
panel for victims who
are not considered first responders
or had little or no
other connection to the site.
“You are equal no matter
where you are buried,
whether your name is there
or not,” Mrs. Hamdani said
standing by her son’s name
at the memorial on the 10th
anniversary of the attacks.
“By your actions the world
remembers you.”
For further information,
contact the Greater Astoria
Historical Society at 718-278-
0700.
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