Remember the PAPD

It’s been almost three months. You know what I’m talking about, don’t you? Three months of pain, anguish, grief, strength, resolve and resolution. We are a different country in a different world. The butchers who thought that they could slaughter us and not pay a price are dying by the thousands. God is real and he is just.

Almost 4,000 people died on that horrible day. For many, however, the most poignant deaths were of those firefighters and police officers who died running up stairs to save people who couldn’t get out.

The New York Fire Department lost a staggering 343 brave men and women. The New York Police Department lost 23 officers. However, many Americans don’t realize that one community of heros was almost lost in the dust of 9-11. These are the men and women of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Department (PAPD).

PAPD provides protection for the airports, ports, bridges and tunnels of the New York and New Jersey area. They also provided police protection for the World Trade Center. On Sept. 11, 37 men and women, or 2.64 percent of the PAPD’s 1,400 officers, died saving the lives of others. No other public service department lost a greater percentage of its people on that day.

I hope no one feels that I am attempting to diminish the sacrifice of each man and woman who died on 9-11. They have my undying gratitude and I will do all that I can to honor their sacrifice by the life that I live. No, I just want to make sure that the record of the deaths of the brave men and women of the PAPD doesn’t get lost in the smoke and ashes of Ground Zero.

For most people, our world is starting to return to normal. For tens of thousands of our fellow citizens who lost members of their immediate or extended family, the word “normal” will never have meaning anymore.

In time, the war in Afghanistan will end. Bin Laden with be captured, killed or buried alive. Other events will eventually shift our focus away from the heros of 9-11. That is the way it always has been. Time moves on and many forget.

However, before that happens, let’s make a pledge to ensure that the lists of those who served, protected and died for us are complete. So I call on the media and the movie and TV producers to publicize the acts of bravery and sacrifice of all of those public servants who died helping others. Including those brave souls of the PAPD.

What these heros did on that fateful day must become living memorials to their bravery and to one’s love for his brothers and sisters. However, those stories, those legends, those memories will die unless they tell the public of their acts of heroism. Don’t let that happen, Hollywood. Don’t let that happen, America. Don’t let the dust of Ground Zero obscure this chapter of our history.

If you want to help the families of those PAPD members who lost their lives saving others, join me and send a check to:

Port Authority Police

World Trade Center Disaster Survivors’ Fund

c/o Port Authority PBA, Inc.

611 Palisade Avenue

Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632

(201) 871-2100

Every day, we ask our law enforcement officers to protect and serve us. Every day, these brave men and women leave their homes not knowing whether they will live to see their loved ones when the work day ends. On 9-11, hundreds of them never came home.

I know of no police department that has ever lost a greater percentage of its officers on one day than the PAPD. We must show their families that we will never, ever forget what they did so that others could live.