Two strangers who misplaced their fathers to terrorism — 20 years, and greater than 5,000 miles aside — have change into sisters in misfortune.
Kristin Marino, of upstate Monroe, misplaced her dad, Kenneth, an FDNY firefighter at Hell’s Kitchen’s Rescue Co. 1 on 9/11, when she used to be simply 3 years ancient.
Maya Peretz of Israel used to be on the Nova Tune Competition on Oct. 7 when her father, Mark, drove there to rescue her and used to be murdered via Hamas terrorists.
In July, the ladies discovered an fast connection next assembly for the primary hour on the 9/11 Memorial to movie the shorten documentary “Our 9/11 Story,” discharged Friday on YouTube.
“It was very powerful, two girls, completely different countries, completely different cultures, but same loss at the end,” Peretz, 21, advised The Publish.
“Our stories aligned so perfectly,” added Marino, 26, a Christian social media influencer with greater than 1.7M followers on TikTok. “I could relate so much to her.”
The mission took place next Marino visited Israel in Would possibly 2023 to movie a proceed documentary with Rova Media.
“The first day we got there, there were so many missiles going off, people were running. And I went home and was like, ‘I want to go back to Israel and meet children that have been affected by terrorism,’” she mentioned.
Marino used to be intended to go back to Israel on Oct. 13, however her commute used to be canceled because of the Hamas terror assaults, which left a minimum of 1,200 Israelis useless.
She later discovered of Peretz’s tale and needed to meet her.
“That was just a crazy way that it happened. I just feel like God just led me right to her,” she mentioned.
Peretz used to be on the out of doors musical pageant within the Negev Wasteland when Hamas descended, killing 364 civilians.
Her father, Mark, 51, known as future she used to be nonetheless at the live performance gardens.
“He asked me where I was and what I was doing. And I told him the truth, ‘I’m trying to get to a safe place.’ He told me he wanted to come. I told him, ‘No, don’t come now. I will tell you if I need you,’” Peretz recalled.
Mark, who tracked Maya’s location by the use of her mobile phone, knew she used to be in hurt’s method.
“He called me and was like, ‘You’re still in there. I’m on my way.’”
Mark used to be at the telephone with Maya’s brother future he used to be using throughout the segment because the attackers infiltrated the patch.
“On the way, he saw terrorists. He drove over them. The ones that still stay alive murder him,” Peretz explains to Marino within the documentary.
“My brother heard him meeting the terrorist and getting executed,” she mentioned.
The faithful dad didn’t take into accounts his personal destiny, she mentioned.
“He was talking with my brother and as he was entering the Gaza envelope, and told him, ‘Listen there are a lot of dead bodies here, Maya, she’s in a war zone.’ He didn’t understand that he himself was getting in this zone too.”
Marino immediately noticed the similarities between their fathers’ ultimate acts of braveness.
“He went into the disaster to go save his daughter. And that was the same with my dad. My dad went into the buildings to go save other people and didn’t really know the outcome, but they just knew that they needed to do that,” Marino mentioned.
Within the movie, Peretz, whose dad’s frame used to be discovered 5 days next he went lacking, is triumph over with emotion as Marino explains her father’s frame used to be by no means recovered.
“It was only five days, but my heart in those days, the feeling that I had in my body that I don’t know where he is, it’s insane, so I’m thinking, 20 plus years to feel it,” mentioned Peretz.
Peretz, a scholar who needs to change into both a attorney or a tutor, concept her dad, whom she describes as a “warrior,” would go back house. This is a feeling Marino discovered ordinary.
“I still have this weird thing in my head that he’s going to come home and I know he’s not, but like a little bit like in my heart, I’m just like, ‘Well, what if he does?’” she mentioned.
Marino took place to be in Big apple on 9/11 for a modeling blast, so her mother took her and her brother to discuss with their 40-year-old father at his West forty third Side road firehouse that morning.
The children were given to sit down within the firetruck he would after force to Farmland 0.
“He placed me and my brother in that same truck that literally got crushed like an hour later,” Marino mentioned.
For the movie, Marino and her mother visited Rescue 1, and heard a tale about Kenneth’s selflessness.
“When he was in the towers, he had stopped for a guy that was having a heart attack and didn’t want to leave him,” Marino mentioned.
“And all the guys were like, ‘Come on, we have a bigger thing to do.’ He’s like, ‘Yeah, but I need to help him.’”
The newfound buddies are dedicated to protecting their fathers’ recollections alive.
“I will never forget and I will never stop telling my dad’s story,” Marino mentioned.
Peretz mentioned she is going to honor her dad via “living like him,” as a result of “he was a very good person.”
The duo additionally hope the movie will ship a message of hope to alternative youngsters who misplaced oldsters to terrorism.
“Don’t give up on your life because this tragedy happened,” Peretz mentioned.
