Punta Gorda honors the fallen of 9/11 at the Military Heritage Museum

Victims from the Sept. 11 plane crashes were all honored on Wednesday in Punta Gorda at the Military Heritage Museum.

There are thousands of stories that are difficult to tell, but necessary to remember and share. At Punta Gorda’s Military Heritage Museum, a Sept. 11 survivor, Michael Fineo, shared his encounter when he felt his body reverberate when the first plane hit the north tower.

“I’m one of tens of thousands who survived that day and I am grateful to God for that,” Fineo said. “We immediately heard a massive explosion and I literally got knocked out of my chair.”

Fineo told WINK News that he knew something substantial happened. What that was, he had no clue.

Carlo Gargiulo, who worked with the New York City Fire Dept., calls the aftermath of the attacks the most challenging nine months of his life.

“We prayed every day that we would find someone alive,” Gargiulo said. “I did it for my brothers in the department; I did it for my friends; I did it for the City of New York.

As they shared the heartbreaking details of that day, they remembered the nearly 3,000 people who died, including first responders to keep their memory alive 18 years later.

“We as Americans say, ‘we will never forget,'” Gargiulo said.

“I honor my friends,” Fineo said, “I guess with every tear.”