Red, white and blue reigned supreme amid a torrent of rain as more than 25,000 soaked patriots joined Brooklyn’s Bravest and runners from around the world for the eighth annual “Tunnel to Towers” run, poignantly retracing the footsteps of a valiant Park Slope firefighter who made the ultimate sacrifice on 9/11.
Waving American flags and toting memorial banners, the flood of supporters sloshed across the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel on a 3.1-mile course to Ground Zero in memory of those who perished in the World Trade Center terror disaster, and to commemorate the grim journey of Squad Company 1 Firefighter Stephen Siller, who had been off-duty on September 11, 2001 and planning a day of golf with his brothers when hijackers attacked the Twin Towers.
Firefighter Siller, a 34-year-old husband and father, raced through the tunnel to assist with the rescue operation, paying for his selflessness with his life.
He was one of 10 members from the elite disaster unit at 788 Union Street to perish in the catastrophe.
“I’m so moved, in this weather they all came out,” Siller’s sister Mary Scullin told the press.
The Tunnel to Towers run was established by the Siller family to benefit the Siller Family Foundation and several other charities, including those serving families of 9/11 victims.
