The Boys of Kingsbridge: From Grammar School to Ground Zero

By Alison Greaney

The Bronx Film Festival premiered the documentary “The Boys Of Kingsbridge: From Grammar School to Ground Zero” on September 11 in the Studio Theatre at Lehman College.

The film portrays actual accounts, from four lifelong friends, who found themselves on the same block at The World Trade Center the day terror struck New York City. It tells firsthand what they saw, heard, felt, and did on that clear, sunny morning of September 11, 2001.

Danny McNally, an NYPD Bomb Squad detective, Mike Hussey, a local three union electrician, Eddie O’Mahoney, a fireman for the FDNY, and Brendan Carroll, the staff engineer for building seven all grew up together in the Irish Catholic community in the Bronx known as Kingsbridge.

The film begins by showing home movie footage from their childhoods. From hanging out on the building stoops to the boys at their Holy Communion, the 8mm footage gives the viewer a sense of this tight-knit community that shaped these four men.

“The ethics that were instilled in them from their upbringing in this community is what guided their actions on 9/11,” said the producer/director, Thomas MacNamara, who grew up in Kingsbridge with the four men. They have stayed close friends since childhood. “Making this film wasn’t about the money,” said MacNamara. “I mean I’ll take it,” he laughs. “But it was really made to show my appreciation for what they did that day.”

MacNamara’s deep-rooted bond with each of the men infused the interviews with rawness. After the screening, McNally explained how it was easy to tell his personal story of what happened on such a tragic day, “He made it easy” McNally said. “I was just talking to my friend, I was just talking to Tom.”