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Yonkers Reflects As Sept. 11 Memorial Is Unveiled

YONKERS, N.Y. – Rosaleen Tallon can still remember her brother, Sean, playing touch football in Coyne Park or relaxing in Rory Dolan’s Restaurant.

“My brother loved this neighborhood so much,” she said. “He loved Yonkers. He loved McLean Avenue.”

And she wonders what it would be like to see him pushing a stroller or carrying his children down the streets he grew up on. But Rosemarie will never know what her brother's future held.

She will never know because Sean Tallon, a firefighter in New York City’s Engine Company 10, was one of 24 Yonkers residents who died Sept. 11, 2001 in the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.

On Tuesday, the 11th anniversary of the attack, those men and women were memorialized as part of the city’s new Sept. 11 memorial in Conor Park.

There, a tattered 38-foot steel beam that once supported a tower at the World Trade Center stands on a large cement pedestal. The beam is surrounded by flowers, American flags and a small cement wall. On the wall are 24 steel plates, each with the name of a Yonkers resident who died that day.

Tallon said it was a touching tribute to the lives lost.

“Sean would have been so proud this memorial was part of the fabric of his neighborhood,” she said.

In a one-and-a-half hour ceremony Tuesday night, city officials joined dignitaries and hundreds of Yonkers residents who had gathered in the park as they unveiled the memorial.

As solemn music played in the background, Police Commissioner Charles Gardner and Fire Commissioner Robert Sweeney read the names of the victims one by one. After, bagpipes played and the large crowd gathered in singing “God Bless America.”

Mayor Mike Spano, who along with City Council member Dennis Shepherd spearheaded the effort to bring the World Trade Center beam to Yonkers, said the memorial is a vivid reminder of the tragic events of Sept. 11.

“What we see this night is the raw and very tangible evidence of what occurred in downtown Manhattan,” Spano said.  “It’s a reminder of the horrific events that took place that day.”

Hope Hollinsworth Coaxum, whose son died while fighting overseas in the war on terror, said the memorial will serve as a symbol for generations to come. 

“Years from now, when our children’s children look upon this huge piece of steel, strong yet worn, tattered, scratched and scraped, they will know the imperfections are the provision of valor and vigilance, of strength and camaraderie, of love and sacrifice,” she said.

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