More than how he died
FDNY’s ‘Holy Week’ began with the annual walk commemorating the life of 9/11’s first identified victim.
By Cole van Miltenburg
After morning mass at St. Francis of Assisi Roman Catholic Church, prayer continued at the fire station just across the street.
More than 100 FDNY community members gathered to commemorate the life of Father Mychal Judge, the former chaplain to the FDNY until his death on September 11, 2001. Some know Judge as the first identified fatality of the 9/11 attacks — after the South Tower collapsed, he was struck by debris in the lobby of the North Tower. But to many in the FDNY, he is remembered less for how he died and more for how he lived: as a steady presence of comfort and faith.
The Father Mychal Judge Walk of Remembrance was held Sunday at FDNY Engine 1/Ladder 24 in Midtown and concluded hours later at Saint Peter’s Church in the Financial District, Judge’s burial site located just steps away from Ground Zero. Participants followed the route that Judge and hundreds of other fallen FDNY members took to the World Trade Center on 9/11.

The walk commenced the unofficial ‘Holy Week’ of the FDNY, paying homage to the predominant Catholic faith of the Irish and Italian American communities whose roots run deep in the organization. Before setting foot down Seventh Avenue, FDNY members recited the rosary prayers and Father Chris Keenan of St. Francis of Assisi read Judge’s last homily in front of the fire station.
“His legacy lives on through our chaplaincy and through the firehouse we just came from,” said New York City Fire Commissioner Robert F. Tucker. “It’s a very holy and special day.”
Judge, who was born in Ireland and raised in New York, served for over a decade at St. Francis of Assisi before his death.
“Father Mych just loved and accepted everybody,” said Sharon Blackburn, a former friend of Judge. “I think there can be a lot of judgment in the world, and we need to follow Father Mych.”
Twenty-four years after the 9/11 attacks, a sense of obligation to commemorate the lives lost remained palpable among walkgoers.
“We should always remember and honor the phrase that we will ‘never forget,’” said Tucker, “because we won’t in the FDNY.”