Vincent G. Danz, 37, of Farmingdale, was a New York City police officer assigned to the elite Emergency Service Unit based in the Bronx. He was believed to be on the fourth floor of the north tower. Danz left a message on his home answering machine for his wife that he was at the World Trade Center. His last words were: "Pray for me and pray for these people. I love you. I'll talk to you soon." His remains were recovered in December 2001.
When rescue workers recovered Vincent Danz's body he had on a pair of black utility boots given to him by his brother, Felix Danz of Manorville.
"They looked like they were in a bear fight or something," his brother said. "They were ripped to shreds."
Felix Danz held on to the tattered boots to remind him of his brother, the youngest of nine children.
The boots sat in a barn in his backyard for years. One day, he took the boots and two pieces of wood from a deck that his brother had built and fashioned them together. The memorial hangs on the barn's front door as a quiet reminder.
"Oddly enough the two pieces of wood resemble the two towers," he said. "It's my little memento, if you will."
Vincent Danz was a fun-loving man who had simple tastes. Every now and then he played a round of golf, but what he enjoyed most was spending time with his daughters - Winifred, now 18, Emily, now and Abigail, now 11 - and watching SpongeBob SquarePants.
"He liked to barbecue with friends; enjoy some beer and a cigar," his brother said. "That was Vince's delight right there."
Felix Danz joined the Army when he was 17 and was stationed in California. He moved back to Long Island in 1999 in part to help his brother care for their aging mother, Ellen Danz, 88, of Southampton.
"It was an opportunity to really be Uncle Felix to his girls and he to mine. Oh man, we're going to have a great time," his brother said. "It was only two years later that he died. It was such a harrowing loss." - Chau Lam
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