Today is the birthday of FDNY firefighter Joseph Angelini Jr. of Ladder 4. He was born on August 3, 1963, and would have been 58 years old today. We will never forget the ultimate sacrifice that he made on September 11, 2001.
Joseph Angelini Jr. may have lived for the New York City Fire Department, but he didn’t hang around when his tour ended.
“Gotta get home to the kids,” he’d tell the guys in Manhattan’s Ladder Co. 4 before heading to the 6:33 p.m. train to Lindenhurst.
Angelini’s wife, Donna, has scheduled a memorial service for today to help 7-year-old Jennifer, 5-year-old Jacqueline and 3-year-old Joseph Angelini III to finally understand that he won’t be coming home anymore.
“My son asks everyone he sees in uniform, ‘Did you find my daddy, did you find my daddy?’” Donna Angelini said Friday.
The seven-year department veteran followed in the footsteps of his father, Joseph Angelini Sr., 63, who was the senior member of Manhattan’s Rescue Co. 1 and also perished in the World Trade Center attacks.
The younger Angelini, 38, was assigned to a house that protects New York’s theater district. Its motto: “Never miss a performance.”
But at home, he was a cook, craftsman and avid gardener who grew pumpkins, zucchini, eggplants and hot peppers and filled the house with the smells of pizza and focaccia.
“He was the air in my lungs, and now that air is taken away from me,” Donna Angelini said. “I keep waiting for him to come off a 24 [hour shift] and come through the door and say, ‘You wouldn’t believe what happened to me today.’” - Newsday, 2001