PHOTOS: When the North Tower collapsed on 9/11, Thomas Gambino III knew in his gut that his father, FDNY Firefighter Thomas Gambino Jr., was dead.
At his father’s funeral, he knew what he’d be doing the rest of his life.
The younger Gambino, who was 20 at the time, is one of more than 75 sons and daughters of the 343 FDNY members lost on 9/11 — or later succumbed to Ground Zero-related diseases — who went on to become firefighters or medics. “I was actually supposed to go surfing with my friends and for whatever reason we had a late night and I didn’t get up that morning,” Gambino III, 43, told The Post.
“I could hear the phone ringing in the kitchen of the house. I still lived at home. And it just kept ringing and ringing. I was like all right, I’m getting up.” It was his friends calling to tell him to turn on his TV.