Memorialize a Second Ground Zero Trio

There's an easy way out of the rancorous controversy that continues to swirl around FDNY plans for a politically correct tribute based on the photograph known as "Flag Raising at Ground Zero." So says retired firefighter Kevin O'Kane, who set off a firestorm of protest when he came forward to NewsMax.com last week and blew the lid off his brother firefighters' growing anger over plans to replace two of the three white firefighters in the photo with a more racially diverse duo in a sculpted tribute. O'Kane suggested Tuesday that a separate statue be crafted, one based on another real-life act of bravery that resulted in the deaths of three FDNY heroes who just happen to reflect the racial diversity the department was seeking when it approved plans to change the flag-raising statue. "They could make a statue in honor of Joey Agnello, Vernon Cherry and Peter Vega," suggested O'Kane, and they wouldn't have to tamper with history one bit. The three firemen from Ladder Company 118, who just happened to be black, white and Hispanic, died side by side at Ground Zero while trying to rescue World Trade Center victims on 9/11. Their remains were just recovered at Ground Zero last week. The story of Agnello, Cherry and Vega epitomizes the firefighting brotherhood that everyone thought the first statue captured - at least until the left-leaning benefactor who commissioned it injected race into the debate by ordering the ethnic changes. "They ate together, slept together and argued together, then they died together," Cherry's widow told the New York Daily News on Monday. "My husband was a firefighter for 28 years and he loved those men." "You could have a Ground Zero statue to those guys and you wouldn't have to change a thing," O'Kane said. "And then the first statue could go forward based on the guys who actually raised the flag." Read the NewsMax.com report that broke the story that has the entire nation riveted: Racial Changes Made in Ground Zero Firefighter Tribute.

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