NEW YORK — Fifteen names are read out loud every year on this day in Manhattan's Theater District.
Fifteen firefighters from Engine 54, Ladder 4, Battalion 9 in Midtown who responded to the World Trade Center site on September 11th 20 years ago and never made it back to their firehouse. They never returned to their families.
The firehouse lost more lives on 9/11 than any other in the city. Their lives and sacrifice honored in a ceremony in a memorial park around the corner from the firehouse.
“It’s like everyday is an anniversary for us. It’s like a remembrance. One day is not more important than another. His loss will always be felt,” said Al Santora.
Al and Maureen Santora’s son Christopher was one of those 15 men.
He was just 23 years old. A firefighter for only two months when he lost his life trying to save others on 911. He had joined the FDNY to follow in his father’s footsteps.
“As painful as it is, on a day like today which is very difficult, said Mrs. Santora. "Remembering and going back that far, the terrible loss and the destruction of the city we survived. We’re survivors and the city survived."
In some ways Christopher Santora lives on. In a scholarship fund his family established in his name. And in his nieces and nephews.
“Each one of them has a piece of Christopher, a piece of his personality,” said Mrs. Santora.