Captain Kathy Nancy Mazza was 46 years old and from Farmingdale, New York.
Kathy was the first female commanding officer of the Port Authority Police Academy. On September 11, 2001, she joined her colleagues at the World Trade Center. There she shot open a glass panel wall after a revolving door became jammed with debris allowing hundreds to escape the horror that was unfolding inside the building. She was last seen with Lieutenant Robert D. Cirri as they were helping carry a woman down the stairs when the building collapsed.
In February 2002, Kathy and the four other Port Authority Police Officers were found in the rubble of the North Tower. Beside them was the body of the woman still strapped in a rescue chair.
I had the honor of working with Capt. Kathy Mazza and Lt.Robert Cirri at the Police Academy. I drove in the car with both of them on the way to Tower 1 after it had just been struck. Capt. Mazza and Lt. Cirri set up triage, as they had been trained as medics. Both officers acted with pride, service and distinction as only Port Authority Officers do. I ascended up to the 27th floor to assist in evacuations. That was the last time I saw the Officers alive. I do not know why God spared my life on 9/11, and took 37 of my fellow brothers, that is something I will have to live with the rest of my life. It is not how these officers died that made them heroes, it is how they lived. Always honored, never forgotten.
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