9/11 Toll Continues 25 Years Later

The toll from Sept. 11 did not end when the smoke cleared from Ground Zero.

Twenty-five years later, another 352 names were added to the granite walls of the 9/11 Responders Remembered Park in Nesconset, honoring people who died from illnesses attributed to the attacks and their aftermath.

“Everybody needs to remember that 9/11 has not ended yet. There are still so many people fighting their 9/11 illness every day,” said Judi Simmons, president and chairperson of the memorial. She noted that the FDNY has now lost 452 firefighters to 9/11-related illnesses, compared with the 343 firefighters killed on Sept. 11, 2001.

“And now at this point, it’s not just responders who are passing away from 9/11 illness,” she said. “There are residents who were told it was safe to go back to their homes after being evacuated when the air was still not safe. It’s students who returned to school.”

For Simmons, the mission is deeply personal. Her husband, FDNY firefighter Marty Simmons, died in 2008 at age 41 from a respiratory illness attributed to his service at Ground Zero.

“A piece of my heart lives at the park because my husband’s name was one of the first names inscribed on the wall,” she said. “That is my driving force to keep the park a beautiful sanctuary.”

The new names will be the first etched into an expanded granite wall named “Resilience,” added after the existing memorial ran out of space.

Suffolk Comptroller John Kennedy, who helped organize local support for the memorial from its earliest days, recalled that the project grew from community members determined to create a permanent place for responders’ families.

“The idea and the concept was that we wanted a space for the widows to be able to come to,” Kennedy said, recalling young children who attended early planning meetings after losing their fathers.

The memorial has continued expanding as the death toll grows, a reality reflected in Simmons’ message for the 25th anniversary.

“The words ‘never forget’ have had new life breathed into them,” she said. “What I would love the vow to be is not only never forget, but always remember.”