9/11 Snubs Baysiders
Eliminate BVAC honor guard from ceremony

As hundreds pack lower Manhattan on Tuesday, September 11 to remember all those who died, Bayside ambulance volunteers will not be there for one of their own.
On Friday, August 24, the Bayside Volunteer Ambulance Corps (BVAC) was told that they could not take part in the ceremony’s honor guard - as they have done in years past.
“Even though we lost a member, we can’t get any closer than the public,” said BVAC President Steve Kmiotek, explaining that he has personally participated in the ceremony since 2002 in honor of fellow volunteer and friend Mitch Wallace.
Wallace, who worked as a court officer at the Supreme Court building in lower Manhattan, was killed after he rushed to the site to help.
“Neither one of those agencies are able to represent Mitch Wallace down there,” Kmiotek said about this year’s ceremony.
Although Kmiotek said that he understood why those city officials tried to limit the number of people at the ceremony - safety and space - he questioned why the representatives of groups could not go, to keep the number small. The honor guard, which will this year, be comprised only of police officers, fire fighters and Port Authority police officers - stands shoulder to shoulder around the footprints of the Twin Towers.
“We are talking about having one or two people down there,” Kmiotek said.
However, Matthew Kelly, a spokesperson for the Mayor’s office, said that the number of honor guard participants would be substantially reduced for this year’s event.
“Last year the size of the honor guard was between 100 and 120. This year, due to space constraints, it will be shifts of 24 people. In previous years, there were two separate honor guards, an all agency honor guard … and a uniform guard,” Kelly said, explaining that only a uniform guard would take part in the ceremony this year. There will be three shifts of 24 officers, each stationed for 30 minutes.
Still, the Bayside volunteers wish that they or the court officers could send someone to the site.
For five years, two BVAC members have attended - Kmiotek and most often Diana Caccioppoli, who headed to Ground Zero after the terrorist attacks and was nearly killed when Building Seven collapsed.
Afterwards, the Bayside volunteers have always walked about six blocks to the courthouse where 34-year-old Wallace worked for another ceremony, remembering the three court officers who perished.
“I will be at both no matter what the city says,” Kmiotek said.
Wallace’s family members - mother and former fianc/e - could also be among those in attendance, but Kmiotek has not spoken to them in years.
During the site cleanup, Wallace’s remains were never found, and the last clue to his whereabouts was a photo of him bandaging a woman’s arm. The uncertainty still weighs on his family and friends, Kmiotek said, explaining why he attends the memorial ceremonies.
“I’m going to go. If I have to stand out in the crowd, I’m going to go, one way or another,” Kmiotek said, adding, “[Wallace] will know that we are there to support him, no matter if we are outside the fence of inside.”