EMFD 9/11 ceremony set for Thursday

An 1,800-pound marble statue, a steel beam from the World Trade Center and a commemorative footstone now adorn Veterans Memorial Park, courtesy of East Meadow Kiwanis.

Christina Daly/Herald

A steel beam from the World Trade Center sits atop the new Sept. 11 memorial at Veterans Memorial Park. A pathway from Prospect Avenue leads visitors to the monument.

Christina Daly/Herald

A footstone at the memorial’s base lists seven local residents who died on Sept. 11.

Christina Daly/Herald

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The East Meadow Fire Department will once against host a Sept. 11 remembrance ceremony at Veterans Memorial Park, at the corner of East Meadow and Prospect avenues, at 7 p.m. on Thursday, on the 13th anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center.

This year, there will be a new memorial, complete with an 1,800-pound marble statue, a steel beam from the World Trade Center and a footstone listing the names of East Meadow residents who died on Sept. 11, 2001.

While the memorial is new, the statue is not. It was initially dedicated in the park in 2002, the result of a fundraiser by Kiwanis, spearheaded by the late Salvatore Napolitano. It reads, “In the name of freedom/To those who lost their lives/September 11, 2001” across three lines.

In 2007, however, the statue was involved in an incident in which a young man sustained an injury. A lawsuit forced the statue to be removed while it was entangled in litigation.

Longtime Kiwanis member Mitchell Allen said he wanted to restore the memorial to the park while he was president of the club from 2011 to 2012, and he remained in contact with attorneys involved with the case. In the meantime, he applied to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to acquire a piece of the World Trade Center wreckage.

The case was not settled until this year, but despite the fact that his presidency had ended, Allen began the process of bringing the memorial back for rededication. It was finally returned to Veterans Memorial Park on Aug. 28.

Allen designed the memorial’s layout with the help of Richard Bivone, of RMB Drafting, who lent significant staff and time to the project. He also credited Steve Glazer, of Newco Ironworks, for lending materials and services.

The footstone lists seven names of local residents who died on 9/11: four who worked in the World Trade Center, two firefighters and one policeman. Allen said the stone could be adjusted in the future. “It is the hope and the intention of Kiwanis to honor those in the future who have passed away since that day as a result of the 9/11 rescue effort,” he said.