Tears
For The Commander - JOHN LEHMANN and CLEMENTE LISI - NY Post Online
Tamara Beckwith FAREWELL, CHIEF:
Family
members grieve outside St. Patrick's Cathedral yesterday for Assistant
Fire Chief Gerard Barbara. The 30-year veteran, who died trying
to save others, was recalled as a man who never panicked in an
emergency. October 2, 2001 -- Remembering him as a devoted family
man, dedicated firefighter and diehard Yankee fan, thousands gathered
at St. Patrick's Cathedral yesterday to say farewell to beloved
Assistant Chief Gerard Barbara. The memorial service for the World
Trade Center terror victim drew hundreds of firefighters and droves
of relatives and friends for the 53-year-old assistant chief,
who had been promoted to citywide tour commander earlier this
year after having served as a lieutenant, captain and deputy chief
over his decorated 30-year career. Some 300 white-gloved firefighters
stood shoulder to shoulder along Fifth Avenue as mourners - including
Barbara's wife of 30 years, Joanne, Mayor Giuliani and Fire Commissioner
Thomas Von Essen - streamed into the cathedral. Dozens of others
looked on from across the street and out of their office windows.
In emotional speeches that each drew long applause, Barbara's
daughter and son remembered their father as a man who taught them
how to overcome fear. "When I was a little girl he would tuck
me in at night smelling of smoke," said his daughter Caren. "He
would never let his little girl know how dangerous his job was."
Barbara's son Paul, a medical student, told how his father was
last seen walking across West Street toward the south tower. "He
didn't run, he didn't panic - he was just walking, thinking of
how to fix the greatest calamity in human history. Nobody knows
where he went after that," he said. "A month ago, I wanted dad
to be the best man at my wedding - now I'm forced to get through
life without him." Fire Department chaplain John Delendeck recalled
that Barbara was a "huge Yankee fan." "When he would watch games
at home, he would rattle the windows and lights when things were
not going right with the Yankees," the chaplain said. Mayor Giuliani,
who gave his Yankee cap to the family, also recalled seeing pictures
of Barbara wearing "every form of Yankee outfit imaginable." Barbara's
memorial service was one of six that took place yesterday for
the fallen heroes of the trade center attack. Earlier in the day,
some 1,300 mourners overflowed St. Clare's Roman Catholic Church
in Rosedale, Queens, to honor 51-year-old firefighter Henry Miller
Jr. Members of Ladder Co. 105 placed a cross adorned with roses
and carnations besides a photograph of the fallen hero and his
black boots. In Ronkonkoma, L.I., hundreds of family members and
friends jammed into St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church to pay
tribute to firefighter Peter Brennan, a member of Rescue Co. 4.
The former city police officer, 31, was remembered as a brave
rescue diver who hauled rescue equipment into the north tower
moments before it collapsed.
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