Fund-Raiser Is Planned for Flight 800 Memorial

As the fourth anniversary of the crash of TWA Flight 800 approaches, a Long Island man plans to swim the length of the plane’s doomed flight path--from the waters off John F. Kennedy International Airport to a point off Long Island--to raise money for a permanent memorial to the victims.

Tom Gallagher, 36, of Seaford, has been training six days a week for the journey, which will begin the week before the crash’s July 17 anniversary. He plans to swim about eight miles a day for six days along the coast, beginning each odyssey with a prayer breakfast at various points on Long Island.

“It takes such a tragedy to find out the real character of people in an area,” said Gallagher, who was serving drinks that fateful night at a saloon and found himself transfixed by the images flashing from a television mounted behind the bar.

All 230 people aboard were killed when the plane’s center fuel tank exploded in midair, about 10 miles off the coast of Long Island.

“Thousands of Long Islanders sprang to action, and they’re still helping today. I’d like to be a part of that,” he said.

Gallagher plans to sell corporate sponsorships on the wetsuit he will wear during the swim--at about $10,000 apiece--and hopes to draw attention to a campaign the families of the victims already have in place: selling bricks that will line the walkway of the memorial at Smith Point Park.

The families have raised about $250,000 from private donations and county grants. The current state budget also calls for an allocation of about $100,000 for the project.

The $1.5-million memorial will be about two acres and will include eight granite slabs and a garden. On one side, the names of the victims will be engraved. The other side, facing the Atlantic, will feature an etching of 230 doves flying into the sunset. The group representing the victims’ families also has an ambitious goal to etch the names of every organization that assisted during the recovery effort.

They hope to erect the monument by the crash’s fifth anniversary and said Gallagher approached them a few months ago with the idea.

Gallagher, a triathlete, is also the president of Charityshop.com, a shopping Web site that gives a portion of sales to charitable causes, including the Flight 800 group.

He’s also secured help for the swim.

He said New York, Nassau and Suffolk police will provide a water escort along with the U.S. Coast Guard, and he will be backed up by members of the swim team from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, which will be on hand at various legs of the swim. Local Boy Scout Troop 800, which was named in honor of the victims of the crash, will also provide assistance.