Former New York City firefighter Peter Puzo recalls 9/11 losses, urges teaching the next generation

Peter Puzo, introduced as chief of the Babylon Fire Department and treasurer of Sons of the American Legion Post 189, delivered a memorial speech stressing the scale of losses and the duty to remember. He said, "On that day, 343 of my brother and sister firefighters and EMS personnel would perish in that rubble," and called on the audience to teach children and grandchildren about what happened.

Puzo also highlighted broader wartime and rescue efforts that followed 9/11, noting the role of service members and merchant mariners. He recounted that the U.S. merchant marine "actively evacuated 750,000 to 1,000,000 Americans from the piers in New York City" and urged the community to carry forward the "torch of education" about the attacks.