In Bushwick, memories of 9/11 still fresh
Photo:Carla Bleiker
The names and pictures of six fallen men on the wall of Squad 252’s firehouse in Bushwick
By Carla Bleiker September 10, 2011
At 9 am on Sept. 11, 2001, the firefighters of Squad 252 on Central Avenue in Bushwick, Brooklyn, responded to an alarm at the World Trade Center. The six men on duty that morning rushed out of the firehouse, which has the company’s motto “In Squad We Trust” emblazed on the bright red gate.
None of them returned.
“We lost six great people that day,” said Andrew Dinkel, 32, who became a firefighter with Squad 252 in 2003.
With the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks coming up this Sunday, the memories of that day are fresh in people’s minds again. While some Bushwick residents try to avoid what they say is excessive media coverage, others have special plans to commemorate those who died in the twin towers. One event in Brooklyn will honor the firefighters of Squad 252 who lost their lives on September 11, 2001.
Dinkel pointed out the golden plates with the names and pictures of all six fallen men on the wall of Squad 252’s firehouse. He said that on Sunday morning at 10.30 am the squad will have a special memorial service with a Catholic priest in the firehouse that will include a moment of silence and the reading of the dead firefighters’ names.
Leo van Belen, from Bushwick, will also be at a church service on Sunday, but not as a guest. The 44-year-old is the director of the Sunday school at Metro Ministries in Bushwick, and said he might follow a memorial service on TV after work, but that he will not go to the site.
On September 11, 2001, he witnessed when the second plane flew into the World Trade Center and the towers collapsed. He learned what was going on during a church staff meeting.
“We all ran to the roof of our building,” said van Belen. “We saw the whole thing in front of our eyes.”
Only a fifth-grader when the attacks happened, Stephanie Reynoso, 20, said that the events of 9/11 eventually inspired her to become a U. S. Marshall. Reynoso, who works at a Bushwick grocery store and lives in Richmond Hill, Queens, is an international criminal justice student at The City University of New York. She does not plan to attend a memorial event on Sunday, but wanted to remember that special day in her own way.
“I watch the memorial on TV every year, so I’m probably going to watch it this year,” Reynoso said.
Not everyone in Bushwick however approves of all the media coverage that 9/11 has received.
“I don’t like how it’s been fetishsized by our culture,” said Cassandra Callaghan, a 22-year old waitress from Bushwick. “It’s been glorified.”Callaghan said that she understands the importance of remembering the victims, but that politicians have used 9/11 as a tool to scare people.
Gerard Cronin is a Bushwick resident who keeping the memory of those who died on 9/11 alive. In honor of his grade school classmate, he established the Saint Thomas Kelly Firefighter Scholarship at the Saint Mary Gate of Heaven school. Kelly, then 38 years old, died in the World Trade Center on September 11. Cronin does not have any special plans for the tenth anniversary of the attacks. Together with other Saint Mary alumni, he organizes a large party in Kelly’s name every Columbus Day weekend, where he collects donations for the scholarship. Last year, Cronin and his fellow alumni collected $ 11,000 in Kelly’s name.
This year will not stand out with a special celebration just because it sees the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks.
“For us, it’s every year,” Cronin said.
Read here about the memorial service for the fallen firefighters of Bushwick.
