Nesconset 9/11 memorial to add 100 names of responders who have died

One hundred names are to be added to a memorial wall at the 9/11 Responders Remembered Park in Nesconset on Saturday.

The new names represent people who responded to Ground Zero and have died since 2005 from illnesses related to the terrorist attacks. They join about 400 names already etched in granite at the park, said John Feal, president of the FealGood Foundation, a nonprofit that helped raise money to build the park and aids those suffering from 9/11-related illnesses.

"The park is the final resting place for those who did not get the recognition for their sacrifice on 9/11. We built this park so history is not distorted," said Feal, who is also chairman of 9/11 Responders Remembered Park Inc. "This park is a reminder for generations that there were good men and women in uniform, and not uniform, who . . . risked their own health and well-being, and came to the aid of New York and this country, and paid the ultimate sacrifice."

Feal said this year marks the fifth year that names have been added to the wall.

A morning memorial ceremony is to include the singing of the national anthem and the donation of two "Survivor Trees" -- saplings from the original Callery pear tree pulled from the rubble at Ground Zero, then replanted at the 9/11 memorial in Manhattan. The Nesconset and Hauppauge fire departments are to receive the trees. The ceremony concludes with the reading of each of the 100 names and the ringing of a bell.

Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone, county comptroller John M. Kennedy Jr., and county legislators Leslie Kennedy (R-Nesconset) and Tom Cilmi (R-Bay Shore) are expected to speak.

The ceremony is to start at 10 a.m. at the park at Smithtown Boulevard and Gibbs Pond Road in Nesconset. Its grounds include three 20-foot-long, 6-foot-high walls of granite bearing the carved headings "courage," "honor" and "sacrifice."