SARASOTA (SNN)– “I lost my best friend, my buddy my son,” said Ielpi
Lee lelpi is a retired NY firefighter.
He remembers 9/11.
“I would say out of the 343 firefighters lost on that day I would say 80-100 were good friends of mine,” Ielpi said. “My company that responded, Rescue 2, nobody went home that night. My son’s firehouse squad 288 – that firehouse sent 19 men; nobody went home that night”
To him it was more than a terrorist attack on our country – it was the day he last spoke to his son.
“He said, ‘Dad, we’re going to the world trade center.’ I said ‘oh okay great – be careful’. He said okay and that’s the last time I had to privilege to talk to my son,” Ielpi said
But for Ielpi, the horror of 9/11 didn’t end once the day was over. For months Lelpi and his friends gathered at the site of the rubble to look for lelpi’s fallen son, Johnathon.
“The dads.. there were many many dads looking for their sons I don’t know how many but there were 8 dads that would meet up every day searching for our sons”
Three months to the day of the attack, Ielpi had taken a break from searching and gone home – that’s when he received a call he had been anticipating for months.
“He said ‘hey lee, we have Johnathon,’” said Ielpi.
Getting to see his son one last time before burying is something Lelpi will never take for granted
“To this day, I’m the only dad that was able to bring his son home in one piece- they never brought their sons home,” Ielpi said.
Lelpi will send the 20th anniversary of his son’s death frustrated – frustrated knowing this his son and so many others like him sacrificed everything only for 9/11 to just become a distant memory for so many.
“Here we are 20 years later and what have we learned, we haven’t learned a damn thing.”
As for Lelpi, he remembers 9/11 and will continue to fight for everyone else to remember that day for as long as he can.