Coast Guard Names Cutter After Jeffrey Palazzo; 9/11 Hero Served At Station Chatham

CHATHAM – There are many connections between the town of Chatham and the 9/11 tragedy, some widely known and others that, 25 years later, still remain too painful for families to share. On this anniversary of the terror attacks, the U.S. Coast Guard is bestowing a fitting tribute on a young hero who served at Station Chatham.

 In June, the Coast Guard commissioned the Fast Response Cutter Jeffrey Palazzo, a state-of-the art 154-foot ship whose namesake was a Coast Guard Reservist who served in Chatham and was a New York City firefighter. He was among the 343 firefighters who perished rescuing people from the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.

 Jeffrey Palazzo of Staten Island was a New Yorker through-and-through, but he had salt water in his veins. It's what prompted him to join the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve, and it's one of the reasons he loved to serve at Station Chatham. But after family, Palazzo's first love was his full-time career as a firefighter. Having been hired by the FDNY — probably the most prestigious fire department in the world — he transferred to a station in Manhattan because the duty on Staten Island was too dull. That was in late summer 2001.

Mr. Palazzo was about 20 when he joined the Coast Guard, drilling at Station New York and then at Station Rockaway, where he worked under commanding officer Bruce Schneider. A machinist's mate (MK) second class, Mr. Palazzo helped maintain the station's rescue boats, including an aging 44-foot motor lifeboat. (The last 44-footer now rests on the Chatham station’s lawn.) In 1993, he was on the first Coast Guard boat to discover the Golden Venture, a cargo ship that ran aground carrying more than 200 Chinese immigrants and was credited with saving dozens of people from the water.

When he was hired by the FDNY, Mr. Palazzo stepped down from the regular Coast Guard after eight years of active duty to join the Coast Guard Reserve. He looked up his old boss, Schneider, who was now the commanding officer at Station Chatham, and asked if he could serve here. Instead of serving weekends, Palazzo agreed to serve a full week every three months — partly to enjoy Cape Cod and partly to serve with Schneider, with whom he had become fast friends. Driving from New York was a major commitment for a reservist, but Mr. Palazzo and his wife, Lisa, enjoyed their time in Chatham each year.

His colleagues in Chatham remember Mr. Palazzo as a “Type A” personality, taking on many tasks and duties and keeping the station’s 44-foot motor lifeboats in service. He was also a qualified coxswain, which is unusual for a machinist’s mate. It was that need to take on new challenges and responsibilities that prompted Mr. Palazzo, as a firefighter, to seek a transfer to Manhattan from sleepy Staten Island. He wasn’t on duty in his new station for more than a few weeks before the terror attacks.

 Mr. Palazzo was serving with the elite Rescue Co. 5 on Sept. 11, 2001, when his crew was dispatched to the World Trade Center. He and 10 other members of his rescue company were ordered into the South Tower to help with the evacuation. At around 9:59 a.m., just under an hour after United Airlines Flight 175 collided with the building, the skyscraper fell. The last anybody heard, he and his crew were in a stairwell on their way up. Mr. Palazzo was 33 at the time of his death, and left two daughters, infant Samantha and 4-year-old Nicole.