Swap Blog

Today, on the five year anniversary of the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Centers in New York City, Team Swap / Swap Blog is participating in the 2996 campaign honoring those who died in the twin towers. The person we are honoring NYPD officer Paul Talty - Shield 28907.

We feel that hero’s like Officer Talty deserve more then a passing tribute post, which will then move down the page as more posts go up. So, in tribute to officer Talty we will not post again on this blog until Wednesday leaving this post as the top post on this blog for 48 hours. This posting gap will end our streak of 518 straight days (since Monday April 11th, 2005) of posting on this blog. We consider paying tribute to Officer Talty to be that important then any posting streak.

Officer Paul Talty was 40 years old and a member of the NYPD ESU (Emergency Services Unit) 10 when he was killed in the World Trade Center. On September 11th, he left behind a wife, two children - Paul Jr. and Lauren, and he had another one on the way (Kelly). He and his wife Barbara were in the midst of expanding their Wantagh, N.Y. home the time of Officer Talty’s death. Officer Talty was known to be a excellent carpenter, he did most of the work on his home expansion himself, and a man that finished projects that he started.

Paul Talty was a eight year veteran of the NYPD, becoming a officer on August 30th, 1993. He began his career in the 108 precinct and move to ESU 10 in October of 1999. Before beginning his career with the NYPD Paul Talty had worked as a electrician and a woodworker.

No one knows exactly which tower Officer Talty entered on 9/11, but it is believe to be Tower #1. It is not known how far up, or exactly where in the tower, Officer Talty was as well when the Towers fell. What is known is that Officer Talty was one of the first rescuers on the scene and went in to the building to save and rescue others.

Officer Talty became a police officer to provide a stable livelyhood for his family and found the work in the ESU to be rewarding. From a family of teachers Officer Talty cared about people and friends say he would do what ever was needed to help people. That is the mark of a noble and honorable man and the sign of a great officer of the peace.

Lisa Talty - Paul sister in law - summed up Paul by saying this -

“Everything you can say that’s good is Paul. Everybody loves Paul.”

Away from work Paul Talty enjoyed the outdoors, woodworking, running, and smoking a good cigar. In high school, he played basketball and ran track. He graduated from Queens College with a degree in sociology. Paul Talty and his family vacationed near Naples, FL every year. He loved the beach and had considered taking the police test in Naples. He had also considered moving to Florida to teach after he retired from the NYPD. He is survived by his wife Barbara, children Paul, Lauren and Kelly; parents Gloria and John Sr.; sisters Kerry and Patricia; and brothers Kevin, John, Mark and Steven.

This information for this tribute came from the NYPD Angles site. Other tributes to Paul Talty can be found at the following locations -

http://www.9-11heroes.us/v/Paul_Talty.php
http://www.september11victims.com/September11victims/VictimInfo.asp?ID=2601
http://www.paultalty.com - As of 9/11/06 currently down - please check and see if the site is back up.

For the complete Google Search on Paul Talty click here

Complete list of those that died in and around the World Trade Center on 9/11 visit - http://commemoratewtc.com/

—- Update —–

This post is included in Stop The ACLU’s 9/11 roundup - here

This entry was posted on Monday, September 11th, 2006 at 12:01 am and is filed under Current / General, Family, News, Personal, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.