USS New York Will Carry Piece of Putnam

Richard Othmer recalls the loss of life on Sept. 11, 2001 while his buddies—Carl Scheetz, George Jones, and Tommy Burke— crouched in a well deck of the new warship, contemplate work needed to create a 1,000-pound engraved memorial that will become a permanent part of the U.S.S. New York. As long as the new battleship U.S.S. New York travels around the globe protecting the world from terrorism and enemy attack, a piece of Putnam County will be part of that mighty vessel.

Last Saturday, the ship, built with steel from the rubble of the World Trade Center, was commissioned in the Big Apple.

Putnam Legislator Richard Othmer of Kent, a member of the Navy League—an organization comprising members of the Navy, Marines, and Coast Guard—was appointed, along with State Senator Vincent Leibell, as a member of the Commissioning Committee for the U.S.S. New York.

Boy Scout Troops 40 (New York) and 454 (Maryland) at the USS New York commissioning ceremony. Troop 40, which is based at Hopewell Junction, presented one of three flags raised at Ground Zero in Manhattan to the captain of the new ship. Gabriel Flohl, whose grandmother, Marianne Gennaro, is a lifelong resident of Carmel, is a member of Troop 40. Othmer, a retired NYC firefighter, served as liaison between the FDNY and the Navy along with two other Putnam residents, George Jones of Mahopac and Tommy Burke of Kent.

Othmer selected a piece of rough steel stored in Hangar 17 at Kennedy Airport measuring 9-feet by 3-feet taken from an I-beam weighing 1,000 pounds that has been engraved with the following inscription: “WTC—Sept. 11, 2001— FDNY—343 KIA (Killed In Action)— NYPD—23 KIA—PAPD (Port Authority Police Department)—37 KIA.”

Another area resident, Carl Scheetz, of Goshen in Orange County, cut the inscription with a torch after Burke and Jones stenciled the numerals and spent dozens of hours drilling into nearly 12-inch-thick steel.

Othmer said the inscription also contains the ship’s motto: “Straight through sacrifice—never forget!”

The giant plaque will be mounted on the bulkhead ramp entering a lower well deck, where Marines and Navy personnel climb into the landing craft.

The plaque was delivered on flatbed trucks prior to the dedication.

Othmer described the day as one of his greatest: “Having served in the military and with the FDNY, I worked with 36 firefighters who lost their lives on September 11, 2001. Being there for that long drum roll as the ship’s crew was set on the first watch while the U.S.S. New York was decked in red, white, and blue bunting is a sight I will never forget.”

Othmer said the most emotional aspect of the event was visiting Hangar 17, where “fire trucks and ambulances destroyed on that fateful morning more than 8 years ago, and a section of steel where the plane went through the Trade Center’s North Tower, remain [in storage], serving as a slap in the face. It brings you back to the day when the world turned upside down forever. I bit my lip more than once to keep from breaking down.”

Putnam County will play another role in the aftermath of the commissioning of the new ship when, on Sept. 11, 2010, the county’s Bureau of Emergency Services in Carmel will unveil a five-foot model of the U.S.S. New York.

Othmer said Putnam County will become the only place in the world to have a model of the ship. A plaque dedicated to all of the volunteer firefighters and police agencies from across the county, who spent days and weeks at Ground Zero following the destruction, will also be dedicated.

Othmer said both the model and plaque’s design are currently in development.