The Daily News of Los Angeles
LOS ANGELES — Robert Schiavone admits he doesn’t think too much about all the ways he was involved with the New York Fire Department’s Ladder Company 39 in the aftermath of the 9-11 attacks on the Twin Towers.
“A lot of it is hard to remember,” the 47-year-old said. “I got there after the towers collapsed, working the shifts of 24 hours on, 24 hours off, but we’d be going down there on our days off. A couple of days later, I was promoted to a lieutenant, and then I was part of a unit that worked on memorial services every day for six weeks.”
Living now in Valley Village with his wife Meleney, and working for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, Schiavone is humbled to be part of the Angels’ first-pitch ceremony before today’s game against the New York Yankees at Angel Stadium.
The fact it is happening against his Yankees — he’s an otherwise lifelong New Yorker from the Bronx — is an added bonus.
“It’s incredible,” he said. “The Yankees, Sept. 11 ... it all seems like a much bigger deal out here for me than back East. I guess so many people were affected by it there, it’s more part of their everyday lives. Here ... it’s just kind of a different feeling.”
Schiavone moved to Southern California from New York in 2006, retiring from the NYFD after 20 years as required by the city regulations. He applied for both a firefighter and police job here before the Sheriff’s Department was first to have an opening for him.
Through a friend working at the Huntington Beach Fire Department who will be part of a giant flag ceremony where 100 firefighters and 100 policemen on the field display the stars and stripes, Schiavone was put in contact with the Angels. The team heard his story and invited him to participate in the first-pitch event.
“I already had tickets to the game, with the Yankees there,” Schiavone said. “This just makes it all better.”
The Angels’ Mike Scioscia, Torii Hunter and Jeff Weaver will be with the Yankees’ Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter as part of the ceremony during which five others will throw out the first pitch today with Schiavone.
Joe Torillo, a retired New York City Fire Department lieutenant and survivor of the World Trade Center attack, will be there as well, joining Christopher Suprun, a firefighter and paramedic from North Carolina who was a first responder to the Pentagon attack outside of Washington, Navy SEALs officer Mike Murphy, and Eric Franssens and Chet Henderson, who have served multiple tours of duty in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The national anthem will be performed by the Orange County Sheriff’s Bugle Corps.
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