Aloha greets New York heroes
By Walter Wright
Advertiser Staff Writer
About 600 New Yorkers, many of them widows and relatives of rescue workers lost in the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, arrived in Honolulu yesterday for a free week of rest and recreation.
Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser
Their vacations are courtesy of the people of Hawai'i, with support from Hawaiian Airlines and 13 Waikiki hotels.
Brianne Germain is held by her father, Brian Germain of the New York Fire Department, outside Honolulu International Airport. Businesses helped cover the cost of vacations for rescue workers and their families.
John Messina, 44, a New York Fire Department lieutenant attached to the mayor's office of emergency management, called the vacation "a great opportunity for healing."
Messina, of Sayville, on Long Island, escaped death when he stepped into a garage as Tower Two came down, killing fellow rescuers standing next to him.
He said he hopes to meet with Pearl Harbor survivors attending ceremonies this weeking marking the 60th anniversary of the attack.
"I think I would ask them how it is to carry it for 60 years — because I know not a minute goes by that I don't think about it myself," Messina said.
"It just feels good to be away from everything," said New York Fire Department Battalion Chief Joe Pfeifer, who lost his brother, a lieutenant on Engine 33, in the towers' collapse.
"My kids tell me we are doing a lot of boogie-boarding while we are here. As long as we are on the sand or in warm water, it'll be OK with me," said Pfeifer.
Joan Callahan and Mary Froehner, widows of Liam Callahan and Gregg Froehner, emergency police officers with the New YorkiNew Jersey Port Authority, said it was their children — four in each family — who urged them to accept the Hawai'i invitation.
"We're trying to be strong," Callahan said. "Otherwise we would just go perish in the building with them. And they wouldn't want us to do that."
Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser
When Tower Two collapsed, New York Police Lt. Terri Tobin was hit by a slab of concrete that split her helmet, broke her ankle, damaged a kidney and sent a piece of plate glass through her back.
Janine Ting, left, her brother Alan Ting, 13, and his father, Bronx firefighter Richard Ting of Orange County, N.Y., wait in the airport baggage-claim area. They were among some 300 families to arrive on a chartered Hawaiian Airlines flight staffed by crew donating their time.
"The generosity of the people of Hawai'i is overwhelming," said Tobin, an orchid lei draped around her neck below a bandage still covering the back of her head.
Gov. Ben Cayetano extended the "sharing aloha" invitation while in New York City on Nov. 7. The visitors were selected by New York Mayor Rudy Guiliani.
Two Hawaiian Airlines DC-10s filled exclusively with the New York visitors were greeted by Hickam Air Force Base firefighters in fire trucks spraying red, white and blue water streams.
Visitors, many wearing fire department helmets and shirts emblazoned with photographs of people they lost in the attack, were greeted at the gate by three musicians and three hula dancers. Each received a lei.
The guests were then taken to the Hilton Hawaiian Village for a welcoming reception.
Lt. Gov Mazie Hirono, standing in for Cayetano, said: "Right after Sept. 11, many people in Hawai'i asked the state to consider offering free vacations to rescue workers and their families. We are delighted they took us up on our offer."
The jets were flown by Hawaiian Airlines' crews donating their time, and the visitors were given free accommodations at Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt, Outrigger, Aston, Pacific Beach, Beachcomber, Royal Hawaiian, Sheraton, Princess Kaiulani and Parc hotels in Waikiki.
