Marvin Bethea and Frank Razzano 9/11 Dead and Obituary – Cause of Death

Marvin Bethea and Frank Razzano 9/11 Dead and Obituary – Cause of Death

On September 11, hundreds of first responders were called in.

Many died, but others survived and witnessed the terrorist attack. One of them was a Queens medic when the two towers collapsed.

CBS2 political reporter Marcia Kramer has interviewed the paramedic several times over the years as he battles to get medical benefits for survivors. She spoke to him again, looking back 20 years after the attack.

There are many post-9/11 photos of Marvin Bethea – mostly with politicians. Paramedics drove one of the first ambulances to Ground Zero. He was also one of the first responders to fall ill and one of the first to join the year-long fight to demand funding from Washington for health care.

Marvin is a shadow of his past: a 9/11-related illness has left him unable to swallow, and he has a feeding tube.

Twenty years after 9/11, he’s taking enough medication to open his own pharmacy to address a long list of problems. But he doesn’t regret that day, reacting to ground zero or working on the heap on the day of President George W. Bush’s visit.

“Are you proud of what you can do for your country?” Cramer asked.

“Oh yes, very proud,” he said. Marvin reached ground zero before the first tower collapsed. “We got there and everything was messed up,” he said. He was there when they both fell to the ground. He was buried under the rubble of a bank a block away, but he came out to help care for others.

“You’re covered in dust,” Cramer said. “We didn’t have masks. We didn’t think about ourselves. We thought about the public, so we gave all the masks to the public. We didn’t have any masks at all that day,” he said.

“Are you sorry?” Cramer asked, “No, I’m sorry I’m sick…but I’m proud I was able to serve our country on 9/11,” Marvin said. “No. It is my responsibility to act,” he said.

Marvin won’t admit it, but he was indeed one of the unsung heroes of 9/11. He said that when people asked, “Where were you on 9/11?” Glad he had an answer, puffing out his chest and saying he “could be part of one of the most tragic days in American history.”

Kramer has interviewed Marvin several times, and he even has a photo of the two together. She was honored that he showed it to her and asked for an autograph on the 20th anniversary of 9/11.