The husband of Moira Smith, a brave Irish American cop who died while repeatedly running back into the World Trade Tower Two to help those inside on 9/11, has returned her Glamour magazine’s Woman of the Year award after Caitlyn Jenner received the same award earlier this month.
James Smith, also an NYPD officer, said when he heard the “Keeping up with the Kardashians” and “I Am Cait” star had won the award he yanked his wife’s off the shelve and FedExed it back to the magazine.
Moira had been honored with the Glamour magazine award in 2011 posthumously.
In a scathing open letter to Glamour, James wrote “I was shocked and saddened to learn that Glamour has just named Bruce Jenner ‘Woman of the Year.’”
“Was there no woman in America, or the rest of the world, more deserving than this man?” Smith wrote. “At a time when we have women in the armed forces fighting and dying for our country, heroic doctors fighting deadly diseases, women police and firefighters putting their lives on the line for total strangers, brave women overcoming life threatening diseases . . . the list of possibilities goes on . . . is this the best you could do?”
Jenner (66) was presented with the award at Carnegie Hall last week. Among other honorees were Oscar-winner Reese Witherspoon, tennis star Billie Jean King and former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham.
Caitlyn Marie Jenner (nee William Bruce Jenner) is a former US gold Olympian and returned to the limelight appearing on E!'s reality television program “Keeping Up with the Kardashians.” She is currently starring in the reality show “I Am Cait,” which focuses on her gender transition.
A spokesperson for Glamour magazine said “We were proud to honor his wife . . . in 2001, and we stand by our decision to honor Caitlyn Jenner.
“Glamour’s Women of the Year Awards recognize women with a variety of backgrounds and experiences.”
Moira Smith was the only NYPD officer killed on 9/11. Born Moira Reddy to emigrants John Reddy and Mary Finn in 1963, she had helped to save many lives in Tower 2 before she was killed in the collapse. Smith was survived by her husband James and their daughter, Patricia, who was just two at the time of the bombings.
Officer Smith and 22 colleagues killed when Tower 2 collapsed were among the first of the emergency services to respond to reports that a plane had flown into the World Trade Center and never backed off even for a moment. Her bravery as she led survivors out of the building has been remembered many times.
Speaking in 2011 her husband said of her actions “Honor and duty required it, Moira’s personal faith demanded it.”
A river ferry, the Moira Smith, was named after her and carries an image of a Claddagh ring as worn by the officer and her husband. The Moira Smith was one of the ferries which rescued passengers when a commercial airliner landed in the Hudson river in 2009.
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