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Firefighter · Engine Company 22

Martin E.
McWilliams

Age 35 · FDNY firefighter

A new father, gifted builder, cook, skier and hands-on problem solver whose life was full of things he loved to make and do.

Engine Company 22Engine 22 · Ladder 13 · Battalion 10159 East 85th Street

Capable hands

Martin McWilliams was remembered as someone who could build, repair and improve almost anything. He worked on cars, landscaped, renovated houses and approached practical problems with confidence and skill.

He loved skiing, water skiing, golf, flying lessons and even skydiving. He was also an accomplished cook; Chicken Francese became a family favorite.

A 1963 Mustang was among the cars he cared about deeply.

But by September 2001, the center of his life had shifted. His daughter Sara had been born only months earlier, and family recollections preserve the simple joy of a new father completely taken with his child.

Engine 22

Martin served with Engine Company 22 at the East 85th Street firehouse.

On September 11, he responded with his company to the World Trade Center and entered the North Tower.

The response

Engine 22’s surviving operations account places the company assisting civilians while evacuating through Stairway C.

Martin McWilliams was one of four members of Engine 22 killed when the North Tower collapsed.

More than what was lost

Martin’s memorial story is inseparable from the life waiting for him at home: projects unfinished, meals still to cook, adventures still to take and a daughter just beginning her life.

A memorial cannot restore those years. It can preserve the person who filled them with energy, skill and love.

Historical record

Sources for this memorial

Personal photographs and additional family recollections can be added as family materials and permissions are received.

National Fallen Firefighters Foundation

Martin E. McWilliams — Roll of Honor biography.

Portraits of Grief / Legacy

Family recollections, his daughter Sara, cooking, skiing and the 1963 Mustang.

FDNY company operations record

Engine 22 North Tower evacuation account.

Firefighter Martin E. McWilliams

Forever part of Engine 22.
Forever part of the Yorkville 9.

September 11, 2001 — September 11, 2026