More names of residents lost to 9/11-related illnesses added to Oyster Bay's Walls of Honor

It wasn’t until after her husband passed away from pancreatic cancer last Sept. 11 that Massapequa resident Joni Cassio realized her community's commitment to those who lost their lives because of the attacks, either on the day the Twin Towers fell or in the months and years after.

Anthony Cassio, Joni’s husband, who she remembers as "funny," "a great dad" and "a great husband," was an electrician by trade who went to work the day after the 2001 terrorist attacks amid the toxic smoke unleashed in lower Manhattan.

"He had to bring generators to the buildings that lost power right next door," said Cassio, 60. "For a couple of weeks, he was right there. That’s what he had to do. They didn’t have any masks then, they didn’t have anything."

On Monday evening, Anthony Cassio was one of eight residents of the Town of Oyster Bay whose names were added to a Tobay Beach memorial wall honoring the more than 50 residents lost to 9/11-related illnesses.

More than 125,000 first responders and others in the area in and around Ground Zero were exposed to harmful debris between the attacks and July 31, 2002, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s World Trade Center Health Program.

Being there put them at risk for myriad conditions, including various forms of cancer, airway and digestive disorders and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Cassio said her husband faced many skin cancer diagnoses that began more than a decade ago, which she said "is pretty common" among those near Ground Zero after the attacks. The couple were married 32 years before his death, after his diagnosis in 2022.

She sat among the hundreds of residents gathered on the sandy shore of Tobay Beach on Monday evening. Mourners held candles and white carnations as family members read the names and shared stories of their loved ones added to the Walls of Honor. 

In addition to Cassio, this year’s ceremony recognized NYPD Officers Charles A. Afanasewicz and Thomas James Gallo, Alan Paul Glueckert of the Nassau County Sheriff's Department, and FDNY firefighters Thomas W. Anderson Jr. and Daniel C. Bove. Michael A. Coppola and Roy H. Sonkin, a dentist, were also added. Additional information about Coppola and Sonkin was not available.

"Thank you for your strength, your dedication and your resolve in supporting one another and continuing on when it must be so incredibly difficult," Town Supervisor Joseph Saladino said during the ceremony. "Twenty-three years since the recovery effort, more than two-thirds of the firefighters and EMTs who responded to the World Trade Center on 9/11 or who worked on the pile in subsequent days, weeks and even months have some kind of long term illness ... All of those with a connection to our town who gave their lives, and those who will inevitably succumb to their battle with 9/11-related cancer and illness will be remembered."

Among the crowd Monday evening was Rosemary Cain, whose son, George Cain, was an FDNY firefighter killed in the 9/11 attacks. His name stood among the approximately 100 others on another Tobay Beach memorial lit in red, white and blue Monday evening.

Cain said she attends the ceremony every year to remember her son and also honor the new additions to the walls.

"It’s very upsetting to me to see all these additional names," Cain said before the ceremony began. "These people were down there to bring my son home to me and we owe them a debt of gratitude that’s priceless. I feel so bad for the families that are suffering, and the individuals who are paying the price, it’s ongoing."