Wounded vets visit 9/11 Memorial on holiday

NEW YORK -- Brendan Marrocco was a high school student on Staten Island on Sept. 11, 2001, when the terrorism attack on the World Trade Center set in motion historic events that would define his life in devastating ways.

More than a decade later, Marrocco spent the July 4th holiday visiting the Sept. 11 Memorial - now as a U.S. Army veteran who lost all his limbs fighting in Iraq.

"Being a New Yorker, it's just great to see it," Marrocco said while sitting in a wheelchair at the lip of one of the two mammoth reflecting pools that dominate the site where the twin towers once stood.

Marrocco, 25, was among about a dozen disabled soldiers invited to visit ground zero Wednesday ahead of the usual throng of tourists. The visit was intended to salute servicemen - many of them triple or quadruple amputees - who survived the post-9/11 wars to become miracles of modern medicine, and to promote two charities raising money to reward them with custom-built homes.

It was one of several events across the state marking the nation's 236th birthday with a mixture of pyrotechnics, parades and living history - a celebration capped by the Macy's 4th of July Fireworks show off Manhattan.

In all, 40,000 aerial shells will be launched from five barges beginning at 9:25 p.m. Organizers say preparations began as soon as last year's display ended.

"Nobody really needs to know the behind-the-scenes that goes into play," said Amy Kule, the show's executive producer. "They don't need to know the year of planning. They don't need to know how much (time) we spend out in the sun, packing all of the fireworks. ... The only thing they need to do is enjoy."

Earlier Wednesday, Joey Chestnut, of San Jose, Calif., won his sixth straight Coney Island hot dog eating contest by matching his record of 68 hot dogs and buns. Sonya Thomas, of Alexandria, Va., downed 45 hot dogs, a record, to win the women's competition.

The disabled soldiers' visit to ground zero was organized by the Gary Sinise Foundation - started by the actor who played the amputee character Lieutenant Dan in the film "Forrest Gump" - and by The Stephen Stiller Tunnel to Towers Foundation, named after a New York City firefighter who died responding to the 9/11 attack. The charities are working together to build so-called "smart homes" that allow the wounded veterans to lead more independent lives.

Marrocco recently moved into one of the homes on Staten Island with his brother.

"It's just a relief to not have to rely on other people so much," said Marrocco, whose arms and legs were blown off by a roadside bomb in April 2009.

John Peck, a 25-year-old Marine from Chicago who lost all his limbs in Afghanistan in 2010, is waiting for a home to be completed in Virginia. Though still in constant pain after weaning himself off painkillers, he said he took comfort on Wednesday in being around veterans who share the same challenges - away from the "rude weird stares" he often gets when out in public.

"I sometimes don't like hanging out with people who aren't missing anything," he said.

Still, both Peck and Marrocco said they have no regrets.

"If I was only minus one leg, I'd try to go back," Peck said of his experience.

Said Marrocco: "I wouldn't change it in any way. ... I feel great. I'm still the same person."

Marrocco "totally rejects that hero stuff," said his father, Alex. "In his mind, he was just doing his job."

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