One of New York’s Finest was promoted to sergeant Monday — nearly 25 years after his NYPD detective father and FDNY firefighter uncle lost their lives on Sept. 11, 2001.
Joseph Vigiano, Jr., 33, followed in the footsteps of his father, highly decorated Emergency Service Unit Det. Joseph Vigiano, Sr., who was among the first to rush into the World Trade Center complex when terror struck — but never made it out.
“[My dad] was brave. There’s countless stories of his heroism,” Vigiano Jr. said, as his 4-year-old son, Joey — who hopes to be a police helicopter pilot one day — clung to his side.
“My dad loved this job, and I’ve never heard anyone say that he didn’t like the work and doing the type of work that he did,” he said. “And I found that I also enjoy the career as well. It’s a great, fulfilling, rewarding career, and I work with great people.”
Vigiano Jr., most recently assigned to ESU Truck 7, wore his dad’s shield number 4511 ever since he became a detective himself.
“After an unthinkable loss, the Vigiano family chose service again and again,” Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at the 1 Police Plaza ceremony, where Vigiano was among 100 members who rose to the rank of sergeant.
“They knew its cost more intimately than almost any family could, and still they continued to answer the call.”
The elder Vigiano survived two on-duty shootings during his time on the job — earning the American Legion Police Post No. 460 Medal for Valor, according to the Detectives’ Endowment Association.
The newly minted sergeant also remembered his dad as a family man with a sense of humor.
“I remember going to the Boy Scouts with him, sporting events, camping trips,” Vigiano said. “He liked to play jokes, and he was a member of our community. He was a volunteer firefighter.”
Vigiano is also following in the footsteps of his uncle, John T. Vigiano II, of FDNY Ladder 132, who lost his life in the South Tower.
“I remember going over to their house for picnics with my family and having a good childhood,” he said.
He said both men, who gave their lives to save others, would be “proud” of his achievement.
Vigiano also has blue blood on the other side of his family — his mother worked in Brooklyn’s 75th Precinct.
“Holidays, barbecues, birthdays, we spent with them, and I wanted to be part of that camaraderie,” he said.
Vigiano will now attend sergeant school at the NYPD academy before being assigned to a command. He said it’s “bittersweet” to leave his Truck 7 family.
His wife Jenny, who also stood by his side, said it’s “such an honor” to see her husband recognized for “doing what he loves the most.”
“He’s like the hardest worker I know, and just puts everything he has into this job,” Jenny said.
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