Howard Beach community comes together to pay tribute to those lost on 9/11
HOWARD BEACH, Queens (WABC) -- They are making good on a promise they made more than two decades ago - to never forget.
Dorie's son, Richard Allen Pearlman helped a woman after terrorists flew planes into the Twin Towers. On September 11, 2001, the 18-year-old volunteer EMT rushed into the building twice - but did not make it out alive.
"It turned my whole life upside-down. At the same time, my mother was in the hospital dying of cancer. My mother and son died three and a half weeks apart. So where do you run? Look for your son, or stay with your mother?" said Dorie.
The Pearlman family was in Howard Beach with many others, honoring those who died and survived the attacks.
RELATED | 'Eyewitness to 9/11: Behind the Lens' reveals untold stories, rare video of America's darkest day
Eyewitness News will have live coverage of the remembrance of the victims. Bill Ritter will once again anchor our coverage on Channel 7 and streaming on all of our ABC7NY platforms beginning at 8:25 a.m.
The Howard Beach Lindenwood Civic organizes the tribute. Phyllis Inserillo has been instrumental in it.
"I was teaching preschool at the time and I just remember one of the little boys I taught looking at the news we put on to see what was happening, he said 'my mom is in those towers but thankfully she came home,'" Inserillo said.
Retired firefighters John Morabito and Jay Frango got the call and responded to the disaster.
"We lost more firefighters from illnesses than we lost on September 11 itself, so it's a reminder for us that we have to keep going to funerals," Morabito said.
Wednesday marks the 23rd anniversary of the attacks - the moment Dorie was shaken to her core.
"They got away with murder - literally, murder," she said.
The second there was a seismic shift in the world - as we all knew it - would never be the same.
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