In his letter "Rich Not Left Behind," Dec. 2, Mr. Theodorsen contrasted the meager financial compensation awarded our dead soldiers killed in Iraq against that awarded to what he insensitively calls "the 9/11 disaster victims" who "did not volunteer to put their lives on the line." No, when they went to work that day, they did not sign up for military duty, but they sure found it required of them.

My sister, Diane Urban, was killed on the 78th concourse of the south tower because she stayed behind with her injured friend. (See Newsday, Sept. 18, 2001.) She and 38 of her fellow NY State Tax Department employees perished along with hundreds of firemen, police officers, Port Authority police officers, Windows On the World workers and countless electricians, clerks, secretaries, porters, elevator technicians as well as brokers, lawyers, accountants, FBI agents and so many more. There were pregnant women in the Towers and babies on the planes and, yes, military personnel at the Pentagon. Few of these people were rich as he claims.

And Mr. Theodorsen grouses that many of these "victims" had insurance policies. "Their children would not miss out on a college education." And he "hazards a guess that few surviving sons or daughters of the dead have volunteered for duty in Iraq." The value of insurance was deducted from the compensation and there are few children of the 9/11 heroes in Iraq because many of them had not been born yet or were young children. And should the children of the dead be denied an education because their parents were murdered by terrorists and unprotected by a careless government? The compensation that the federal government awarded was never intended to make anyone rich as Mr. Theodorsen sarcastically implies. It was an afterthought incorporated into emergency legislation to protect the airlines from lawsuits. The ink on it dried before the blood did.

I have lived in Manhasset for 28 years and I have always enjoyed the Manhasset Press. While I know we enjoy many freedoms in America, two being freedom of speech and the press, I sincerely wonder at the decision to print such a hurtful and misinformed letter in a town which suffered such heavy losses. Does anyone think that savaging the memories of innocent citizens killed in an attack on our country; not simply a disaster as Mr. Theodorsen calls it, to make his bombastic point about the military, deserves space in the Manhasset Press? Isn't it irresponsible to print a letter that can cause as much pain as I have experienced since I read it? I think Mr. Theodorsen owes all the 9/11 families an apology.

Theresa Corio