A police officer who ran to the World Trade Center from NYPD headquarters after al Qaeda terrorists flew two hijacked planes into the Twin Towers on Sept. 11 was honored at a street renaming Saturday — 25 years after he died in the buildings’ collapse while in the process of retiring to practice law.
Police Officer John Perry, who was posthumously awarded the NYPD’s Medal of Honor in 2001, now has his name on a street sign at East 101st Street and Madison Avenue on the Upper East Side.
He was off that day but was at One Police Plaza filing his papers because he planned to leave the force and practice law full time, officials and family said.
His brother, Joel Perry, went to One Police Plaza when he couldn’t find him after the attacks, he told a crowd of family, friends and NYPD officials who gathered at the intersection for the ceremony.
“I said ‘I’m looking for my brother John Perry,’” Perry recalled. “‘He’s missing.’ And they had a piece of paper with 22 names on it in ink and my brother was number 23 in pencil and my heart sank.”
He made a gut-wrenching call to his parents but the family took solace in the fact that Perry was still considered missing, the brother recalled.
“So we held onto that hope,” he said. “But as the days went on we realized he was gone.”
Perry’s pain over his brother’s death hasn’t subsided in 25 years, he said.
“People ask me 25 years later what it is like,” he said. “It’s the same. The pain is still there. I broke down the other day.”
Joel Perry and his sister, Janice Perry, pulled a rope to unveil the street sign with their dead brother’s name on it before the solemn sound of bagpipes rang out.
“It’s great that John will be part of New York City history forever,” Janice said. “Even though he didn’t make it out, he’s still a legend now.”
