Longtime NYPD Officer Gin Yee was among the scores of heroes who rushed down to the World Trade Center on 9/11 — and spent the next nine months sifting through the rubble to find the remains of perished emergency responders.

Yee, a Staten Island borough commander, reflected on the grueling and grim task Wednesday as he retired from the force following a more than four-decade-long career.

“It was important for the families that we found something so they could have some kind of closure,” the assistant chief said of searching for the remains of his close friends and colleagues.

Hundreds of New York’s Finest, as well as retired officers and politicians, gathered outside the 121st Precinct in Staten Island Wednesday to wish Yee a happy and healthy retirement, as he walked out of the stationhouse for the last time.

“If someone would’ve told me 42 years ago, that someday I’d be a two-star chief and in charge of a borough I would’ve asked them what they were smoking,” Yee quipped.

“It was nice to end my career in Staten Island, where the cops are still respected and the politicians treat criminals properly.”

NYPD’s First Deputy Commissioner Edward Caban praised Yee’s dedication to the job at the walkout. 

“With more than four decades of exceptional service to the NYPD and all of New York City, Chief Yee wore many hats. A respected leader and sought-after mentor, his retirement is a huge loss. We wish him all the best,” Caban said. 

Yee’s career began in February 1981, and since then he has served under 13 police commissioners.

He was named a commanding officer of the Staten Island Patrol Borough in early January 2022 by Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell, in one of the soon-to-depart top cop’s first major appointments.

“It went by so quick, but every day was a good day, and I will miss the many great people that I worked with and met along the way,” Yee said, reflecting on his 42-year career.

“While I enjoyed most days, I will never forget 9/11 when we lost 23 police officers, 14 from emergency service who I worked with,” Yee, who was captain of the NYPD’s Emergency Service Unit at the time of the terror attacks, said.

Yee’s first step toward retirement was supported by close friends, colleagues, and families of the officers who lost their lives on September 11.

Carol D’Allara, the widow of Emergency Service Police Officer John D’Allara, who died on 9/11, told The Post Yee was just “a genuinely nice guy” who led with a “caring demeanor.”

“No matter where we were or whatever the occasion Chief Yee always took the time to greet the line of duty families and to ask about my sons,” she said.

“I hope he finds as much happiness and success in his retirement as he has in his NYPD career.”