Tom and Tim Haskell, two brothers from Seaford, New York, and members of the FDNY, perished on 9/11 while rescuing others from the Twin Towers.
Now, a dozen relatives who serve in the U.S. military and other fire and police departments, including their surviving brother Ken Haskell, who also responded on 9/11, have come together from around the country to honor one of their favorite Big Apple traditions – St. Patrick’s Day.
“We are an Irish family, and my brothers Tommy and Timmy, in particular, really loved to celebrate that each year by marching in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade,” Haskell, 54, told Fox News Digital. “It was something they always did together, regardless of where they were working.”
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Tommy and Timmy Haskell in their uniforms to attend the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in New York City. (Courtesy Ken Haskell )
Typically, he said, FDNY members march with other members of the same firehouse or battalion. But his brothers, despite working in different boroughs, always found a way to go together every year.
This year, a large group of patriots from around the country, including members of the Army, the Air Force, the Marine Corps, various police departments, the FDNY and even the Space Force turned out to honor the fallen duo.
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Timmy Haskell of Squad 18 died after running up a staircase in the north tower of the World Trade Center Sept. 11, 2001. (Courtesy Ken Haskell)
Tim Haskell lived and worked in Lower Manhattan on Sept. 11, 2001, his brother said. He was off duty when the planes struck but rushed to the scene anyway with other members of his firehouse.
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He made it up to the 30th floor of the North Tower, where he and another firefighter found a man who appeared to be having a heart attack. With an evacuation underway, his colleague went to look for a clear staircase. He returned to find a police officer with the victim, who told him Tim Haskell had climbed to a higher floor after calls for help came in over the radio.
FDNY firefighters Thomas Theodore Haskell Jr. and Timothy Shawn Haskell were honored at the National 9/11 Memorial and Museum in New York. (Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images)
“We all know somebody who just died, you know? And I had no idea whether or not my brothers were even working at that point.”
The firefighter and the officer carried the injured man to safety, and all three survived, Haskell said. His brother did not.
“I just remember feeling a great sense of pride in what he did,” Haskell told Fox News Digital. “It was an incredibly brave, selfless decision that he made, and he did it without hesitation.”
Ken and Tommy Haskell with their mother in their FDNY dress uniforms. (Courtesy Ken Haskell )
His other brother, Tom Haskell, was a captain with Ladder 132, based in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood. His team had responded to the South Tower and was assisting with the evacuation there when the building collapsed on top of them.
“It was the second building struck, but it was the first one to collapse,” Haskell said. “So, they were in the process of just trying to evacuate people, including first responders themselves.”
Several Haskell family members in their different uniforms in an undated family photo. (Ken Haskell)
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Ken Haskell was also off duty at the time of the attack, but he and members of his firehouse hopped on a bus and were racing to the scene when the towers began to fall. He didn’t know whether his brothers were on scene until 1 a.m. the next morning. Then he spent weeks piecing together their heroism after speaking with other survivors.
Former President George W. Bush, third from left, and former U.S. Rep. Peter King, right, met with members of the Haskell family at Eisenhower Park in 2004. (Ken Haskell)
Haskell said his family has a legacy of service that began with his grandfather, who served in the U.S. Navy.
So did his uncle. His dad was a Marine who later joined the FDNY.
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Even Haskell, before joining the fire department at the same time as his brother Tim and their cousin Frank, was a police officer.
Now the next generation has joined various branches of the military and law enforcement or taken up firefighting, he said.
And they traveled into the Big Apple from all over — North Carolina, New Mexico, Florida and elsewhere in New York — to march with the NYPD’s Holy Name Society in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade.
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