Community Corner

West Hempstead Woman Finds Brother's Name Misspelled On 9/11 Memorial

Janice Hart, of West Hempstead, left Sunday's ceremony at Ground Zero early after noticing her brother's first name had been misspelled on the memorial.

Janice Hart cannot visit her brother's grave.

Jeffrey Schreier died in the World Trade Center on 9/11, but his remains were never discovered. Instead, Hart, of West Hemsptead, her family and friends looked forward to the day they could stand at Ground Zero and run their hands across Schreier's name on the 9/11 memorial.

But when the family found his name among the nearly 3,000 engraved in the bronze panels along the memorial fountains in New York Sunday morning, they also discovered a glaring mistake.

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The memorial read "Jeffery Schreier." Her brother's first name was misspelled.

"We were very upset," Hart told Patch. So much so that she left the 10th anniversary ceremony early, along with her husband, son and a few friends.

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Once the media got wind of the error, Hart received a call from a woman on the 9/11 Commission. The woman told her that she had sent paperwork to Schreier's widow, who she said confirmed that his name had been correctly spelled. And it was. The information had come from the medical examiner's office.

After some phone calls and records review, a spokesman for the 9/11 memorial stated Monday the mistake came about when the names were being entered into a database.

"We regret the error," Michael Frazier said. "As soon as we found out about [it] we began working on how to make it right and we're engaged with our fabricators, contractors and the architect to do so."

"My sister-in-law did not make the mistake. It was an error on their part," Hart said, but added that she was happy that they plan to correct it. According to Hart, a representative for the 9/11 memorial said they would also arrange a special after-hours viewing for her family and friends once it is fixed.

Schreier, 48, of Brooklyn, had been working in the mailroom of Cantor Fitzgerald on Sept. 11.

"He was probably one of the first people at the offices that day, because he was in charge in the mail," she said.

It was a job he did for nearly 20 years, Hart says, adding that her brother had to overcome many learning disabillities in his life.  

"He really valued and cherished his job," she said.

For Hart, having a place to visit to remember her brother is very important.

"My family has been through a lot of tragedy," she said, explaining that both her parents are Holocausts survivors. "Most of our family was wiped out" and like her brother, "they have no graves."

She added, "This could be something to go to...to touch."


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