FDNY holds ceremony to honor those lost in the past year

UPPER WEST SIDE (WABC) -- A ceremony was held Wednesday to remember members of the FDNY, a show of solidarity in the midst of grief.

As they have for more than a century, thousands from the New York City Fire Department came together to honor those lost in the past year.

There was a sea of blue, lines of bagpipes, and rows of grieving family members, all in the shadow of a hilltop monument on the Upper West Side that now stands for four more heroes.

"We gather with heavy hearts, but we also gather with pride in what these heroes have done," said Mayor Bill de Blasio.

The four veterans honored include firefighter John Monteverde, who died in a motorcycle crash a year ago, EMT Luis De Pena, who died from an illness connected to his rescue work after 9/11, EMS Lieutenant Walter Nelson, who passed away in May, and Lieutenant Gordon Matt Ambelas, this year's only firefighter to die in the line of duty.

A 14-year veteran, the husband and father of two little girls died in July after battling a Williamsburg high-rise fire.

He had been honored just weeks earlier for helping save the life of a little boy in Brooklyn, whose arm and head got stuck in a rollup gate.

"It just goes to show that the members of the fire department are always up for the challenge. It really doesn't matter, the type of run," Ambelas said the day he was honored in June.

Wednesday, Ambelas's widow accepted a department flag from the mayor and wiped away tears as a stream of firefighters made their way past the reviewing stand.

"That is why this tradition of gathering here each year on our memorial day is so important to the very fabric of this department," said FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro.

A department that has lost many, but forgets none.