New York police, firefighters who served on Sept. 11 honored by Fort Worth officials
About 40 people who were New York police officers or firefighters on Sept. 11, 2001, on Friday afternoon arrived with their relatives on a chartered aircraft to fanfare in Fort Worth, where they will spend the weekend.
About two weeks before the 20th anniversary of the jetliner terror attack, the New York emergency service workers are in Cowtown to be recognized and celebrated in a series of events planned by the Fort Worth chapter of Brotherhood for the Fallen, a nonprofit organization.
The contingent of New Yorkers walked from the plane onto an Alliance Airport tarmac lined with law enforcement officers and firefighters from across the region.
Bagpipes wailed as mounted patrol, motor officers and others greeted them at a ceremony. An American flag was suspended from towing company wreckers parked on either side of the hangar entrance.
Fort Worth-area police officers and firefighters applauded their counterparts in two parallel lines after they walked down stairs from the plane and toward a hangar.
Inside the hangar, city and Tarrant County officials spoke to the crowd.
“9/11 heroes, your service and your sacrifice that day that you endured 20 years ago will never be forgotten,” said Jimmy Pollozani, a Fort Worth police officer who is the president of the Brotherhood for the Fallen’s Fort Worth chapter.
Also at the arrival ceremony was Ross Perot Jr., whose Alliance Airport-based Hillwood Airways contributed to funding the weekend.
Fort Worth Fire Department Chief Jim Davis said the New Yorkers in Fort Worth would have a jubilant time.
“We will never forget, and this weekend we’re going to prove it,” he said. “So let’s have a party. Let’s do this.”
This story was originally published August 27, 2021 at 7:45 PM.
