FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM SEPTEMBER 9, 2021 • THE QUEENS COURIER 11
Middle Village resident honors lives lost 20 years ago with vigil committee
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
cmohamed@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
For the past 19 years, the 9/11 Vigil
Committee in Middle Village has held
a candlelight vigil and prayer service at
Juniper Valley Park to honor and remember
those who perished in the Sept. 11,
2001, terrorist attacks at the World Trade
Center towers.
Th e committee — which is made
up of a group of volunteers from the
Middle Village and Maspeth communities
— was established immediately following
the tragic events of that day. It has
brought together hundreds of members
from churches, schools and local organizations
to Juniper Valley Park’s 9/11
memorial garden, where a granite plaque
was installed in remembrance of the thousands
of lives lost at Ground Zero.
As the number of attendees has dwindled
over the years to 400 people, Frank
DeBiase, president of the 9/11 Vigil
Committee, said he is expecting a larger
gathering this year to commemorate the
20th anniversary of 9/11.
According to DeBiase, who was also
a fi rst responder at Ground Zero, it is
of utmost importance to remember and
never forget the events that unfolded on
9/11.
“Forgetting something like this is outright
upsetting. I go to local schools and
are invited by teachers to speak
to kids about it,” DeBiase said.
“It’s just as important to always
remember and share these
things with them.”
Like his neighbors, DeBiase
lost two dear friends who were
9/11 fi rst responders.
DeBiase, who is a retired corrections
captain of the
Support Services
Division on Rikers
Island, recalls the
events of 9/11
vividly.
He started his
workday at 5:30
a.m. with a cup of
coff ee and a bagel
before hopping
on the highway
to Rikers Island.
While he
reported to the commanding offi cers conference
Frank DeBiase, president of the 9/11 Vigil Committee.
room for the weekly planning
meeting, his secretary burst in and said,
“Sir, put on the TV. Th e World Trade
Center has just been hit by an airplane
and is on fi re.”
As DeBiase and his team watched the
news on television, they were all trying to
make sense of the situation, he said.
“‘Must be a freak accident,’ ‘those poor
offi ce workers’ and ‘that will be a tough
fi re to get under control,’ were some of the
comments that went around
the room,” DeBiase said.
As minutes passed, with
the news of a second aircraft
hitting the Pentagon
and another hitting the
other World Trade Center
tower, and yet another
plane crash in Pennsylvania,
DeBiase said it
became all too
evident that
the nation
was under
attack and
that the city
was “Ground
Zero.”
W h i l e
DeBiase’s unit
— which was
usually called
when a water
Photo courtesy of DeBiase
main broke, or when electric outages
occurred when Rikers was fl ooding or
snow was piling up — was sure that at
any moment they would get a call to dispatch
their heavy equipment (pay-loaders,
back-hoes and bulldozers) to the
scene of the attack, they were prepared
and readied all personnel to respond to
the unprecedented emergency, he said.
“Th ere were thousands of people in the
twin towers when the attacks took place
and a rescue eff ort was in full swing,”
DeBiase said.
Later that day, DeBiase, along with offi -
cers and civilian tradesmen, were dispatched
to the NYC Morgue in Manhattan.
DeBiase’s unit helped convert the street
adjacent to the facility into a high-volume
intake area for the receipt of human
remains. Tents were erected for everything
from examination tables to fi ngerprinting
stations, photography stations
and rest areas. Th ere was even a makeshift
chapel.
As they got closer to the World Trade
Center site, the streets were empty and
abandoned. Th ere was an acrid smell of
“burning everything,” DeBiase said.
“Th e scene was surreal. Mountains of
ruin, countless volunteers passing buckets
of hand-dug debris from one to the next.
It was a sea of humanity, determined to
fi nd some way of help,” DeBiase said. “So
many lives lost, so many friends — it was
the same thought going through everyone’s
minds.”
While DeBiase assisted in the transfer
of remains from the ambulances to the
pathologists and then to the refrigerated
trailers, he says he will never describe or
discuss what his team recovered on a regular
basis as they sift ed through the rubble.
When an ambulance arrived containing
the remains of a fi refi ghter or police offi -
cer, workers at the site would stop what
they were doing and line the street.
“We would all stand at attention and
salute the vehicle until the fallen ‘hero’
was removed and sent to the pathologists
for processing. Unfortunately, this ritual
continued several times per day, weeks on
end,” DeBiase said.
While working at Ground Zero among
the thick smoke and stench, DeBiase
developed a sore throat. His mother, who
was a teacher at St. Margaret’s in Middle
Village, sent a delivery of 1,300 pounds of
candy and throat drops donated by students.
“We had enough to last us for the duration
of the recovery eff ort. It was gestures
like that which defi nes who and what we
are as a people during this most challenging
time,” DeBiase said.
For DeBiase, he will always be proud
that he was in some way involved in the
9/11 recovery eff ort.
“Th e torn rotator cuff I sustained while
lift ing a body out of the wreckage and the
subsequent surgery will always remind
me of the job we did in the aft ermath of
that horrifi c day,” DeBiase said.
In 2002, DeBiase received an
“Outstanding Duty Award” from his
department and although the word “hero”
was written in the citation, he says he does
not “in any way, shape or form feel like a
hero for what I did as a fi rst responder.”
“I reserve that distinction for the hundreds
of fi refi ghters, police offi cers and
patriot civilians who perished that day in
the most cowardly act of terrorism our
country has ever known,” DeBiase said.
According to DeBiase, the world as we
knew it was forever changed on 9/11.
“However diffi cult, however much we
desire to move forward, it is up to us to
tell the story and keep the memory of
those who perished alive in our mind and
in our hearts,” DeBiase said. “What happened
right here, in our city, in our country
should never simply be the next chapter
in a history book. God bless America
Photo a via Facebook/Middle Village 9/11 Vigil Committee and never, ever forget.”
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