More Cops Dead From 9/11 Illness Than 9/11 Attacks

Those lost to 9/11-attributed illness now number 71
By Kate Seamons,  Newser Staff
Posted May 8, 2014 11:59 AM CDT
More Cops Dead From 9/11 Illness Than 9/11 Attacks
Sgt. Shannon Graham of the New York Police Department bows her head during the benediction during a ceremony at the State of New York Police Officers Memorial on Tuesday.   (AP Photo/Mike Groll)

It's a dismal milestone: The number of police officers who have lost their lives to 9/11-related illnesses has passed the number who died in the attacks themselves. The AP reports that 71 officers have now died from the former, compared to 60 in the latter group. The news comes as the 13 officers (named here) who died from cancers attributed to their work at Ground Zero had their names added Tuesday to the New York State Police Officers' Memorial in Albany.

The Journal News recounted the heroics of one of them: Charles Wassil, a Marine, NYPD officer, and Peekskill detective who spent a week searching for survivors among the rubble. He died in 2013 from sarcoidosis, an inflammatory disease that surfaced just three months after the attacks. (Meanwhile, in a somewhat controversial move, unidentified remains of 9/11 victims will be moved on Saturday.)

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