Firefighters honor compatriots killed in 9/11 terror attacks with grueling bike ride
KINSALE, Ireland — Three days and 225 miles later, a group of almost 100 serving and retired firefighters from New York and Ireland will cycle into a garden of remembrance on Wednesday to honor those who were killed in the 9/11 terror attacks.
After setting off from U.S. Ambassador's Dublin residence on Monday, the hardy group made their way across Ireland’s lush, rolling hills peddling their way to 17 fire stations and a fair few pubs along the way.
On Wednesday they will complete their journey in the the Ringfinnan garden, which overlooks the Atlantic Ocean in the southwestern county of Cork and was set up by an Irish nurse who treated victims on that fateful day.
It's part of a bid to raise money for the victims and for those still suffering from injuries and the effects of their work at Ground Zero.
“We lost 343 firefighters in an instant,” one of the cyclists, Michael Schreiber, told NBC News on Monday, adding that 370 had died since 9/11.
Schreiber, a Health and Safety Officer at the Uniformed Firefighters Association of Greater New York, said that just this week there had been several funerals for firefighters “who passed from 9/11 related illnesses.”
“It’s never ending,” said the 53-year-old, adding that it would be the first time he has been away from New York on the anniversary of 9/11.
His fellow cyclist, New York Fire Department Battalion Chief Danny Sheridan, said that as a third generation Irish American he had a “strong connection” with the Emerald Isle.
The New York Fire Department veteran, who along with his fellow cyclists has raised almost $150,000, was at Ground Zero 23-years ago and said “it was just a remembrance” as he was riding. “I lost so many friends that day, and I still continue to lose guys,” he said.
His compatriot Danny Manning, 71, said that he got emotional when he entered the garden “especially when you see some of the fellows.”
“Of course, it brings back memories, and it brings back some tears,” said Manning, who is not taking part in the ride but is there to support his buddies. “But as anything, I think, when that comes, sometimes you look the other way and think about the good times, and some of those memories bring a smile to your face in spite of the tears.”
Manning said on “that Godforsaken day,” 23 years ago he watched live on TV as United Airlines Flight 175 slammed into the south tower of New York’s World Trade Center moments after his wife Mary Ellen had “screeched” after seeing the news that American Airlines Flight 11 had crashed into the North Tower.
“I started getting dressed, put my fire department shirt on,” he said, adding that he flagged down an emergency services vehicle which took him to the scene.
“The clouds went from beautiful sky to no sky,” he said. Shortly afterwards he added, “I looked to the right and I see the tower going down.”
Manning, who said he was a fireman for 23 years with Ladder Company 43 in east Harlem, said friends and colleagues were among the 2,977 people killed by Al Qaeda operatives in the deadliest terrorist attack in history.
While most of the victims came from New York, others were killed when American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon at 9:37 a.m., causing a partial collapse United Airlines Flight 93 crashed after a passenger revolt.
Coming to the garden, Manning said, allowed him to “remember the people” and reflect on “the good people they were.”
Today 343 oak and sycamore trees, one for each of the fallen firefighters, have grown strong since they were planted on a plot of her family’s land by Kathleen Murphy in November 2001, two months after the attacks.
Murphy, an Irish nurse who treated injured firefighters after 9/11 at Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan, dedicated the site to her old friend Mychal Judge, a Franciscan Friar and Chaplin of the New York Fire Department, who became the first identified victim of 9/11. He died saving people from the North Tower.
Murphy passed away in March 2011, but firefighters from both New York and Ireland continue to tend to the garden, along with her nephew John Murphy, 43.
Murphy said it was “an honor” to be looking after the garden where there were so many names with Irish heritage being commemorated by people “that have been in the States for a number of generations, but such a connection with the two countries.”
His aunt, he said, wanted something simple for each firefighter “not as a commercial venture, not to gain anything but to provide a place for people visiting and even, you know, for locals to get out of the rat race.”
“It’s for healing and hope and love really.”
For Manning, the fact that it was a living memorial made it unique. He said he had seen other 9/11 memorials around the world “but they’re all steel or stone or glass.
“This is a living memorial here, and it’s a living memorial with the trees that continue to flourish, they continue to blossom, and they continue to grow,” he added.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
