Not all heroes wear capes. Some wear patches, and one Manhattan bar will never forget that.<\/p>\n
Nearly every inch of the walls and ceilings of O\u2019Hara\u2019s Restaurant and Pub, located a block south of the World Trade Center site, is covered with patches \u2014\u00a0more than 7,000 of them \u2014 from police officers, firefighters, EMTs and military from all 50 states and around the globe.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven Guam,\u201d co-owner Mike Keane told The Post. \u201cAll over the world, everybody\u2019s been through here. They know about the patches, and they want to have theirs hung with the rest of their brethren.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Cedar Street watering hole was a \u201cCheers\u201d-style gathering place that brought together Wall Streeters, first responders and tradesmen before Sept. 11.<\/p>\n
On that day, the place was so consumed by dust and debris that Keane thought it might not stand. When it reopened in April 2002, O\u2019Hara\u2019s became a haven for those still working the scene at Ground Zero and a place where they could share devastating news about the bar\u2019s onetime regulars.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Hara\u2019s Restaurant and Pub pays homage to first responders with more than 7,000 of their patches adorning the bar\u2019s walls and ceilings. Helayne Seidman for the NY Post<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019d be talking to someone, and they\u2019d say, \u2018Remember Jeff who used to come in? He didn\u2019t make it,’\u201d Keane, 63, said.<\/p>\n
Tthe tradition to honor first responders on the bar\u2019s walls started on the first anniversary of the tragedy.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the construction guys decided to take a patch off one of the FDNY guy\u2019s shirts and staple it to the bar,\u201d he recalled. It was from a fireman from Ten House on Liberty Street, the first fire station to respond to the tragedy.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the end of that day, there might have been 20 patches stapled up around the top of the bar. And then, as you can see now, it got away from us a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Co-owner Mike Keane opened O\u2019Hara\u2019s early on Sept. 11, 2001, to serve a group of commodity traders who evacuated the North Tower \u2014 and they all watched in disbelief on the bar\u2019s TV as the second plane hit the South Tower. Helayne Seidman for the NY Post<\/p>\n
Tim Brown, a 20-year FDNY vet and 9\/11 survivor who was a supervisor in Mayor Giuliani\u2019s Office of Emergency Management, began frequenting O\u2019Hara\u2019s after the 9\/11 Memorial & Museum opened in 2014.<\/p>\n
\u201cI lost nearly 100 friends, so I go visit my friends\u2019 names [at the memorial], say hi to them four or five times a week. And I come here three or four times a week \u2026 It feels like I\u2019m home,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is also a 9\/11 museum, just a different kind.\u201d<\/p>\n
He\u2019s brought everyone from Navy SEALs and FBI agents to members of the Afghan military\u2019s Female Tactical Platoon to the bar to pay respects.<\/p>\n
Amanda Lynch lost her uncle, Michael Boyle of NoHo\u2019s Engine Company 33, in the attacks. Her grandfather, James Boyle, the former president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association, spent months searching Ground Zero for his son and died of 9\/11-related cancer in 2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cI spent a long time looking for answers \u2026 and while in New York City one weekend with some time to kill, I went looking for these answers,\u201d she said of a 2019 trip to O\u2019Hara\u2019s, where she met Brown.<\/p>\n
When Keane returned to the bar the day after the attacks, \u201cit was covered in dust and debris,\u201d he said. Helayne Seidman for the NY Post<\/p>\n
Brown became a mentor to Lynch, who decided to become a paramedic. He was by her side a couple years ago, when she stapled both her Philadelphia Fire Department and Pennsylvania state paramedic patches to O\u2019Hara\u2019s storied walls.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d like to think my grandpa and uncle also enjoy a beer under those patches after hours,\u201d said Lynch, who pays an annual homage and\u00a0who will have a special moment this year with her husband, a fire captain. \u201cAnd 25 years later, my son now gets to witness his father place his Philadelphia Fire Department patch on the wall too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jake LaFerriere, a second-generation Minneapolis firefighter and founder of the nonprofit Firefighters for Healing, said walking into the bar on a recent visit to New York City was \u201ccompletely overwhelming.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can truly feel the deep sense of brotherhood, love, respect and tradition within those walls,\u201d said LaFerriere. He added both his Minneapolis Fire Department and Minneapolis Police Department patches to the wall.<\/p>\n
Both the living and the dead are immortalized \u2014 and Keane makes sure those who can\u2019t put a patch up in person have a chance to be included.<\/p>\n
Keane explained that the patch tradition started on the first anniversary of 9\/11. Helayne Seidman for the NY Post<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first time they come here, forget it, they\u2019re in awe,\u201d said Tim Brown, an FDNY vet and 9\/11 survivor whose book, \u201cThe Greatest Love,\u201d was released on Aug. 25. Helayne Seidman for the NY Post<\/p>\n
\u201cI was just actually on the phone with a guy from Rhode Island and he wanted to send a patch down for a buddy of his who had passed away \u2026 I said, \u2018Mail it down to us, I\u2019ll put it up, and then I\u2019ll take a picture for you,’\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
In special cases, the honor extends beyond first responders.<\/p>\n
Welles Crowther was a 24-year-old equities trader at the Sandler O\u2019Neill investment firm\u00a0in the South Tower at the World Trade Center. When United Flight 175 hit floors 77-85, he survived because he was in the elevator bank. He went on to save a reported 18 people, leading and even carrying them down the stairs before he went back up to try and help more. <\/p>\n
Crowther died when the tower collapsed, but his family discovered his heroism because survivors told the story of the \u201cMan in the Red Bandana\u201c: The young man always kept his signature kerchief in a back pocket since his father gave it to him years earlier.<\/p>\n
Jake LaFerriere, second from left, pictured here with his fellow fireman at Minneapolis Fire Station 11 Rescue 9, added a Minneapolis Fire Department patch to O\u2019Hara\u2019s wall. Courtesy of Jake LaFerriere<\/p>\n
Alison Crowther \u2014 mother of Welles Crowther, known as the \u201cMan in the Red Bandana\u201d \u2014\u00a0 was \u201cdeeply touched\u201d that her son was given his own special tribute at O\u2019Hara\u2019s. Helayne Seidman for the NY Post<\/p>\n
A red bandana \u2014 emblazoned with \u201c19,\u201d the number he wore while playing varsity lacrosse at school in Nyack, now hangs in his honor at O\u2019Hara\u2019s. <\/p>\n
\u201cMy breath was taken away,\u201d Alison Crowther, his mother, told The Post of seeing it for the first time. \u201cI knew that they had always honored the firefighters and other emergency service workers who traveled to New York to help on and after the attacks, but I never thought they would necessarily know about or include Welles.\u201d<\/p>\n
She has been to O\u2019Hara\u2019s around 10 times and said the experience \u201cadds yet another dimension to the understanding of the events of 9\/11. I have taken friends there for meals when I meet them at the 9\/11 Memorial. My heart always swells to see all of the patches, all of the love, all of the dedication to service represented there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Crowther, whose son Welles will be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously, said being at O\u2019Hara\u2019s \u201cadds yet another dimension to the understanding of the events of 9\/11.\u201d USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s good that people want to be part of this and want to come here and show respect for all the first responders. Because they don\u2019t always get it all over the place,\u201d said Keane, who plans to open at 8:30 a.m. on September 11th. Helayne Seidman for the NY Post<\/p>\n
This year, Crowther will posthumously be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom \u2014\u00a0just one of many special remembrances on this 25th anniversary.<\/p>\n
Keane plans to open the doors of O\u2019Hara\u2019s at 8:30 a.m. on September 11 and close \u201cprobably around 2 a.m. <\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of people just need a drink, or want to have a toast in memory of someone,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s good that people want to be part of this and want to come here and show respect for all the first responders. Because they don\u2019t always get it all over the place.\u201d<\/p>\n
And he\u2019s not worried about running out of room for more patches. If the need arises, \u201cWe are just going to put up new walls.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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