New memorial to Nassau volunteer firefighters killed on 9/11 to replace aging one in Eisenhower Park

Nassau firefighters and county officials are replacing a memorial dedicated to Nassau volunteer firefighters who died in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and from 9/11-related illnesses.

County officials, including Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, broke ground Thursday on the new memorial in Eisenhower Park. It will replace an aging firefighters memorial and is expected to be unveiled by Sept. 10.

Eisenhower Park has several memorials, including one dedicated in 1989 to volunteer firefighters and a lakeside 9/11 memorial with a replica of the Twin Towers dedicated in 2007.

The county is replacing a second firefighters memorial on Park Boulevard, added in 2005, dedicated to the first 19 volunteer firefighters killed on Sept. 11, with 30 names of those who died of 9/11-related illnesses added.

The new memorial will be built in place of the existing memorial on Park Boulevard, near the roadside Eisenhower Park veterans memorial.

The memorial, which features the badges of fire and police departments, is aging and faded and is starting to crack.

Officials said they planned to replace it with a black granite memorial while refurbishing the original firefighters memorial from 1989. The project is expected to cost about $350,000, funded through donations that include $100,000 from the Peter & Jeri Dejana Foundation and $150,000 from Nassau County. 

"This particular memorial was beautiful when it was first unveiled, but it's tired, and we have a commitment to excellence in this county, a commitment to everything that we do," Blakeman said. "We do our best, and this new memorial will help us to do our best to remember those who gave their life in the line of duty — a debt that never can be fully repaid by the residents of Nassau County, the metropolitan area, our state and our country."

The memorial includes Blakeman’s nephew, Tommy Jurgens, who was a Meadowmere Park volunteer firefighter and a court officer who died after rushing to help a woman when the towers collapsed. His body was never recovered.

Nassau County Chief Fire Marshal Michael Uttaro said the memorial needed to be refurbished and was owed to those who gave their lives on Sept. 11 and from working on the pile in the years since.

"It is our job to ensure that the events of that day are maintained as an integral part of the history we teach to our children and our children's children," Uttaro said. "Describing the terror of that day that was defeated by bravery, sacrifice and selflessness."

Ralph Esposito, chairman of the Nassau Firefighters Memorial Endowment Association, spent 30 days working at Ground Zero and has since developed throat cancer. He said he recognized the names, solemnly noting that more names were added nearly every year.

"I knew a lot of these gentlemen from the Nassau County fire service. It just hits me here," Esposito said. "I would never, never say never forget. We have to always remember all of them that gave their lives."