Firefighter Matthew Garvey
Squad 1

Laid to Rest
on October 30, 2001

A Life Dedicated to Service

For those who are anxious or tired or losing focus on the war effort, the friends of Matthew Garvey would like you to consider his life. `It was a life dedicated to the service of the people of America," said his friend, Rick Helton, who served with him in the Marine Corps. Matthew Garvey enlisted in 1981 at the age of 18. In his 10-year career, he would make sergeant and become a squad leader in 2nd Anglico, an elite scout team that went into hostile territory ahead of ground troops. He served in Beirut and in operations Desert Storm and Desert Shield. Mr. Garvey, 37, joined the Fire Department in 1995 and earned his way into the elite Squad 1 unit based in Park Slope, Brooklyn. He was recently accepted to law school, was an active Marine reservist, studied Kung Fu, played guitar, took photographs, climbed to the summit of Mount Rainier and was a rescue instructor for the Fire Department. Books on his nightstand included: Don Quixote, War and Peace, The Iliad, Moby Dick. "No one word can describe him," said his friend and stationhouse mate Gerald Smyth. (Legacy.com Article)

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