On the death of bin Laden - Michael Ragusa, this one's for you!

New York City Firefighter Michael Ragusa  

Contributed photo

Michael Ragusa’s Final Gift

By Carolyn Wall

On September 11, 2001, the parents of Michael Ragusa, a Brooklyn firefighter, arrived in Payson. They had reservations to stay at the Best Western Payson Inn.

They had been traveling around the country on vacation. Payson to Phoenix was the last leg of their journey. They had plans to catch a plane at Sky Harbor Airport and would head back home to New York City in two days.

But their plans were changed by the awful events of 9-11.

They had heard about the events in New York City and came in from their travels anxious to talk to family members, full of hope that their youngest son was safe. They had heard from relatives back home that Michael was in the staging area at the World Trade Center.

They checked into the hotel, went to their room, and began the awful task of tracking down the information on the whereabouts of their youngest son.

They had planned to stay at the hotel just a couple of days, but extended their stay to nearly a week awaiting word from relatives. The phone rang constantly with words of encouragement, but no information on Michael’s whereabouts. As the days went by the Ragusas began to fear for the worst.

After a while, they refused to leave their room. Their phone rang constantly and the staff at the hotel continued to take messages for them.

They left the hotel still not knowing what had happened to their son. They were weary and discouraged when they returned to their home in New York City.

Two years later Michael Ragusa was the last of the 343 New York City firefighters to be laid to rest.

On September 8, 2003, the Ragusas held a funeral for their youngest son. It was the last of the funerals for the firefighters killed in the World Trade Center.

As other families held funerals and memorials for lost firefighters, the Ragusas waited because they desperately wanted to bury the young Brooklyn firefighter's remains, but they always knew their chances of finding his body were slim.

Of 2,792 people who died in the attack, the medical examiner identified the remains of less than one- half by DNA samples..

Hope was running out for the Ragusas when they discovered Michael’s charity to others would touch them in a way they could not have predicted.

They discovered their 29-year-old son had donated blood to a bone marrow center before he died. The donation that was meant to help someone else's life ended up helping his family celebrate his.

“He left behind life, a tiny vial of blood that flowed within him when he was alive,” said Dee Ragusa, Michael's mother, at his funeral. “How he must have loved us— how proud we are to call him our son.”

Ragusa's casket contained all that the family could gather that was important to him - the vial, his uniform and other personal mementos his mother believes he would have wanted to be buried with.

“It took two years, but you get realistic,” Dee Ragusa said on ABCNEWS' Good Morning America”  “We were so blessed to have that vial of blood … the identifications are winding down,’ she said.

The funeral for Michael Ragusa of Engine Co. 279, was held in Bergen Beach, the Brooklyn neighborhood where he was born and raised. Bagpipers played "Amazing Grace" and firefighters in dress uniform saluted the fire truck carrying his coffin as it made its way to the church.”

The Ragusa family had finally laid their youngest son to rest.