▶ Retired FDNY firefighter and 9/11 first responder Rob Serra ’01 touches one of the six stone monoliths at the 9/11 Memorial Glade in New York.
SEPTEMBER 11, 2001
PHOTOS BY KEVIN COLTON (LEFT), DREW ANGERER/GETTY IMAGES (RIGHT)
20 Years Later ◀
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In September, the Kappa Alpha Society placed 2,977 flags on the Quad in honor of those killed in the 2001 attacks, including 548 people from countries around the world. Among the lives lost on 9/11 were three HWS graduates who worked in the World Trade Center at the financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald: Andrew H. Golkin ’93, Scott W. Rohner ’01 and Michael J. Simon ’83, P’11, P’13. A memorial plaque honoring Golkin, Rohner and Simon is a fixture in the vestibule at the Abbe Center for Jewish Life.
Rob Serra ’01 was crossing the Verrazano Bridge, on his way to try out for the New York City firefighters’ hockey team, when he saw smoke rising from the World Trade Center’s twin towers. Brand new to the FDNY, Serra had completed his training less than 24 hours earlier and expected to have the day off, but he grabbed his gear and headed downtown. Even though it was his first official day as a firefighter, Serra says “it never crossed my mind not to go.” The day changed his life forever. “Pretty much as soon as I got down there, I started to bleed from my nose,” he remembers. Like thousands of first responders, emergency workers and civilians who survived the attacks, Serra was exposed to toxic ash
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and debris on Sept. 11 and in the months following, when he worked at the Staten Island recovery site searching for the personal effects of victims. He has had surgery to remove nasal polyps and still faces neurological damage, including neuropathy and fibromyalgia, which cause intense bouts of shaking, nerve pain and trouble walking. The September 11 Victim Compensation Fund was established to expand health coverage and compensation to first responders and individuals who developed health problems related to the attacks; however, after renewals in 2011 and 2015, the VCF ran out of funds to pay all filed and projected claims in 2019. continue reading >> HO BA RT A ND WI LLI A M SM ITH COL L EGE S / 45
