Four Ground Zero rescue and recovery workers are being honored by the National September 11 Memorial & Museum with limited-edition MetroCards.
Beginning Wednesday, 250,000 of the special MetroCards will be issued at 10 stations in the city, mostly near the World Trade Center as well as in midtown, according to the museum.
The workers are being honored ahead of the museum’s dedication of the 9/11 Memorial Glade on May 30. The outdoor addition to the lower Manhattan museum, which opened in April and features six polished stone slabs embedded with World Trade Center steel, memorializes the 9/11 first responders, residents and workers who have died from illnesses related to the toxic dust that was released into the air when the Twin Towers collapsed.
Roslyn Nieves, seen wearing a red NYPD hard hat on one of the MetroCards, was mobilized to Ground Zero the week after the attacks. As an NYPD crime prevention specialist, she worked the security detail at the site for several months. She retired from the NYPD in 2004, according to the museum.
The Ground Zero cleanup efforts also drew thousands of people from across the country who helped remove the debris.
Daniel Armenta, seen on the right of a MetroCard with another rescue and recovery worker, was a lieutenant with the San Francisco Fire Department when he volunteered to work at Ground Zero. He served the San Francisco Fire Department for 31 years, attaining the rank of battalion chief before he died in 2013 of bladder cancer.
On 9/11, Mike Nugent was a lieutenant with the Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue in Florida and assigned to the Technical Rescue Team. After the attacks, he took several buses to get to New York City and worked in the rubble for about two weeks before returning home.
In 2017, he was diagnosed with sarcoidosis, an inflammatory disease that commonly affects the lungs and lymph glands, which is likely a result of his time at Ground Zero, according to the museum. Nugent, currently the Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue Special Operations chief, is featured on a MetroCard pointing toward the rubble.
Mark Bogush, featured on a MetroCard with his K-9 partner Marley, was a first lieutenant with Tampa Fire Rescue as well as a member of FEMA’s South Florida Urban Search and Rescue Team when the World Trade Center was attacked. He and Marley spent seven straight nights at Ground Zero searching for victims’ remains. Bogush still works for the Tampa Fire Rescue as the assistant fire chief for operations.
The MetroCards will be available at the following stations:
- Grand Central (S, 4, 5, 6 and 7)
- Times Square
- Jay Street – MetroTech (A, C, F and R)
- Brooklyn Bridge – City Hall (4, 5 and 6)
- WTC Cortlandt Street (1)
- 34th Street – Penn Station (1, 2 and 3)
- Cortlandt (R and W)
- World Trade Center (E)
- Wall Street (4 and 5)
- Rector Street (1)
