Walter G.
Hynes

Age 46 · 23 years of FDNY service

A captain, husband, father, lawyer and friend remembered for the time he gave to other people.

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

The man before the uniform

Walter Hynes spent twenty-three years serving New York City as a firefighter. But the people closest to him remembered a life that reached far beyond the firehouse.

He was the husband of Veronica and the father of three daughters, Caitlin, Kerry and Deirdre. Family sat at the center of his life. He enjoyed vacations, golf and the ordinary time spent with the people he loved.

Walter also pursued an education alongside his fire service. He graduated from John Jay College of Criminal Justice and St. John’s University School of Law. The combination says something about him: he was a firefighter and a captain, but also someone who kept learning and expanding what he could do for others.

The National Fallen Firefighters Foundation remembers him for generosity—not only with money, but with something often harder to give: his time. He was the kind of person people called when something needed to be done.

Captain of Ladder 13

By September 2001, Walter was Captain of Ladder Company 13 at the East 85th Street firehouse shared with Engine 22 and Battalion 10.

A ladder company’s work is centered on search, rescue, forcing entry and helping people escape. A captain carries an additional responsibility: making decisions for the firefighters beside him and leading them into conditions where those decisions matter.

On September 11, Walter responded with five members of Ladder 13: Thomas Hetzel, Dennis McHugh, Thomas Sabella, Gregory Stajk and Joseph Graziano Jr.

The assignment

Ladder 13 was sent into the North Tower for search and evacuation.

The surviving company operations account records that the crew was ordered toward the 44th floor. They climbed to approximately the 24th floor before the South Tower collapsed at 9:59 a.m. and the evacuation order changed the direction of their movement.

Ladder 13 began descending through Stairway B while continuing to search and help people leave.

Joseph Graziano Jr. was assisting a civilian down the stairway and exited the North Tower seconds before it collapsed. The company report records that he last saw the other Ladder 13 members near the lobby and Stairway B.

Walter Hynes · Thomas Hetzel · Dennis McHugh · Thomas Sabella · Gregory Stajk

Walter did not return home.

Follow the North Tower timeline

A name carried forward

In 2003, New York City enacted the co-naming of a section of Beach 93rd Street in Queens as Captain Walter G. Hynes Way, between Holland Avenue and Shore Front Parkway.

His name is also carried by the firehouse he served, by memorials, by firefighters who climb in remembrance, and most importantly by the family and friends who knew the man behind the rank.

A permanent memorial cannot recreate a person. It can make sure that a name does not become only a name.

Walter G. Hynes was a captain of Ladder 13. He was also Veronica’s husband, Caitlin, Kerry and Deirdre’s father, a son, a brother, a graduate, a lawyer, a golfer, and a man remembered for helping people.

Historical record

Sources for this memorial

This page is built around the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation’s Roll of Honor, the Ladder 13 company operations account, and New York City’s 2003 street co-naming law. Personal photographs and additional family recollections will be added as permissions and family materials are received.

National Fallen Firefighters Foundation

Walter G. Hynes — Roll of Honor biography.

FDNY company operations record

Ladder 13 response, North Tower assignment and evacuation account.

New York City Local Law 62 of 2003

Captain Walter G. Hynes Way, Beach 93rd Street, Queens.

View full source record Return to the Yorkville 9

Captain Walter G. Hynes

Forever part of Ladder 13.
Forever part of the Yorkville 9.

September 11, 2001 — September 11, 2026