Vinny Damato didn’t start golfing until joining the FDNY in 1999.
“To have the camaraderie in the firehouse, golf was one of those things that kind of linked us all together,” he said.
Damato spent years in service to his country, as a Marine during the Gulf War, a New York state trooper and a firefighter who worked at Ground Zero. Now, his country is giving back to him, through the nonprofit Folds of Honor and an artificial turf company Celebrity Greens. Folds of Honor is giving college scholarships for Vinny’s two kids. But the most fun part is a 1,600-square-foot putting green in the Damato’s backyard.
“To come out and just really give of themselves, I mean, I can’t tell you the amount of work, labor, friendship that they provided over the past few days,” Damato said. “It’s truly a blessing.”
Damato says his time working at Ground Zero will stick with him forever, like so many of the first responders that cleaned up and conducted search and rescue through the rubble.
“It was hard the first couple of weeks, and it’s still hard now,” he said. “It’s something I think that a lot of guys, even by the representation the guys that are here, I think that we carry that with us.”
Damato was forced to retire early due to a 9/11-related illness. First responders like him are learning that New York City government knew of health risks posed by the dust from the World Trade Center’s towers in the aftermath of the attacks. But it was not made public information until the current administration. Many survivors and first responders have developed cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, as well as cancer diagnoses.
“While we’re incurring insane personal risk, somebody else is watching the things we can’t see,” said FDNY Uniformed Fire Officers Association President James Brosi. “Somebody else is watching our blind side. Somebody else is saying, ‘We will not put you in an area that we can control unnecessarily. And we won’t lie to you to do it.’ And to be fair, they didn’t have to lie to us because if they’ve been more honest, we probably still would have done it. We would’ve just taken better precautions after the fact.”
Those with the FDNY hope this information can be used to expand covered medical conditions and treatment for firefighters who responded on 9/11. As for Damato, he says this putting green is not just for him. It’s for all the men and women he’s worked with. And on 9/11, he’ll spend it remembering the ones no longer with us.
“This gift was bestowed upon me, but I do want to reflect that it’s for all my friends,” he said. “We’re going to have good times back here now.”