Probationary Firefighter Andrew Brunn
Ladder 5
Laid to Rest on
September 18, 2001
AP)
The New York Fire Department added 240 new members to its ranks,
handing out diplomas to trainees at a ceremony marked by six
empty chairs — seats symbolically held for classmates who
died at the World Trade Center.
Thursday's
training academy graduates were the first since the Sept. 11
terrorist attacks, but they still leave the department more
than 100 shy of filling all the places of those lost in the
trade center collapse. Officials listed 343 firefighters as
missing or killed in the Sept. 11 attack.
In
addition to the 240 rookie firefighters who graduated, the six
who died were awarded diplomas posthumously. The chairs that
marked their places were draped in purple bunting and blue FDNY
uniform shirts.
Miracle In The Bronx, Part Deux
Another jolt of midnight magic, another stunning World Series
win for the New York Yankees.
For
the second straight night, the Yankees were one out away from
defeat when they victimized closer Byung-Hyun Kim.
Scott
Brosius saved the Yankees with a two-out, two-run homer in the
ninth inning, then Alfonso Soriano singled home the winning
run in the 12th early Friday to give New York a 3-2 victory
over the Arizona Diamondbacks, and a 3-2 games edge. Full story
"We will remember their bravery in all that we do throughout
our lives," said Rabbi Joseph Potasnik, a department chaplain.
Mayor
Rudolph Giuliani noted that many trainees were assigned to firehouses
and worked during the attacks, receiving a special initiation
into the perils of their profession.
"You've
had to face the worst," Giuliani told graduates. "We
always knew we were the best. Now the whole world knows we are
the best."
Family
members accepted diplomas awarded posthumously for Richard D.
Allen, Calixto Anaya Jr., Andrew C. Brunn, Michael Cammarata,
Michael D'Auria and Anthony Rodriguez as their classmates and
a packed audience applauded.
Anaya's
wife Maria brought her three young children on stage. Her 6-year-old
son Brandon, wearing his father's cap, accepted the diploma.
The
academy provides 11 weeks of instruction and two weeks of on-the-job
training at firehouses, after which the cadets return to school
for evaluation. Graduates remain probationary firefighters for
one year.
Brogan
Healy, a co-valedictorian, said neither he nor any of his colleagues
regrets the decision to become firefighters.
"We
have entered into a brotherhood and we look to our big brothers,"
said Healy, wh moved from California to join FDNY ranks.
The
list of graduates also included Edward McMellon, one of four
police officers acquitted last year in the 1999 shooting death
of unarmed African immigrant Amadou Diallo. McMellon was among
the top 200 finishers among 6,000 fire department applicants
and began training in July.
McMellon's
switch to the fire department was criticized by the New York
Civil Liberties Union, organizations representing black officers
and firefighters, and Diallo's mother.
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