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NEW YORK (AP) — Hundreds gathered for the wake Michael Ragusa, the last firefighter killed in the terror attack on the World Trade Center to receive a memorial service, which had been painfully put off by family waiting for his remains to be identified.
A funeral for the 29-year-old was scheduled for Monday, a day after family, friends and firefighters paid their respects at a funeral home. His family chose to bury a vial of blood he had donated to a bone marrow center.
Many families of the 343 firefighters killed Sept. 11, 2001, held services before remains were identified, but Ragusa's family delayed an official ceremony. Last month, his mother, Dee Ragusa, said they decided they had waited long enough."It was a very personal decision for the family," said Gerry Sweeney, a firefighter in Ladder Co. 131. "They really didn't want to go through a memorial service and then hear that a piece of Michael had been recovered and have to go through it again, but I guess they'd figured enough time had passed."
Of the 2,792 people who died in the attack, the medical examiner has identified remains of just over half.
Photos at the funeral home showed Ragusa smiling as a child, hugging his girlfriend, driving his car and fighting a fire.
Dozens of firefighters, including some who took a break from their shifts to come to the memorial, passed through to offer the family their condolences.
"For a lot of us who have dealt with all these wakes and the funerals, this closes some sort of a chapter, for the whole department," Sweeney said.
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