WATERTOWN — Six years after his death, Battalion Chief David M. Lachenauer’s name will finally be unveiled this weekend on the national wall for fallen firefighters.
Lachenauer, the only known local firefighter who died as a result of the efforts after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, will be honored on Sunday at the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial in Emmitsburg, Maryland.
Lachenauer died in 2018 after a one-year battle with cancer, which was linked to exposure to toxic materials during his service at ground zero following the attack. He was 61.
At the time of the attack, Lachenauer was at officer training in Queens when he was sent to the site of the World Trade Center, where he spent the next three days working on the pile at ground zero.
Nearly 23 years later, Fire Chief Matthew R. Timerman said on Tuesday that it’s important to remember the sacrifice that Lachenauer gave to his country and the loss felt by his family.
His colleague for 22 years didn’t talk much afterward about his experience at ground zero, Timerman said.
“I remember he told me that he saw 7 World Trade Center collapse,” Timerman said. “The Twin Towers were giant buildings, but 7 World Trade Center was a 47-story skyscraper. It was incredible to see a 47-story building come down.”
The battalion chief’s name will be joining Peyton L.S. Morse, the only other city firefighter whose name is now etched in the memorial. Morse was 19 when he died in March 2021 after he had a medical emergency while training at the New York State Academy of Fire Science in Montour Falls, near Watkins Glen.
City Fire Department officials noticed that Lachenauer’s name was absent from the wall when they attended the ceremony for Morse when his name was unveiled in October 2022.
Timerman doesn’t know how his friend’s name was left off of the national memorial but immediately worked to make sure that the battalion chief was honored on the wall.
He submitted paperwork to the memorial to show Lachenauer’s history with the department and that he was at ground zero.
There’s a spot already waiting on the wall for his name to be placed. Space has been left for other firefighters who died from illnesses related the World Trade Center response, Timerman said.
He and a small contingent of city firefighters will join Lachenauer’s family in Maryland and take part in Sunday’s ceremony.
It will be the 43rd year that the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation will host the weekend to honor firefighters who died in the line of duty.
This year’s national tribute will honor 89 firefighters who died in 2023 and 137 who died in previous years.
Sixteen other firefighters from New York died during the past year from complications from illnesses related to the Sept. 11 attack.
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