Newsday.com: http://www.newsday.com/news/ny-victimsdatabaseall.framedurl Daniel J. Brethel He Always Wanted to Be a Fireman December 30, 2001 There's a home video of Daniel Brethel at age 4, wearing a fire hat that he'd gotten for Christmas, and grinning from ear to ear. Daniel would build fire stations out of cardboard boxes in his East Meadow living room and push his plastic trucks speedily to make-believe fires in the furniture. Many little boys dream of becoming firemen. Daniel Brethel followed through. On Sept. 11, the 43-year-old New York Fire Department captain rushed to the World Trade Center at an hour when he should have been driving home after his shift. As he and his colleagues rushed toward the burning buildings, Brethel shouted out a warning. "Firemen will die here today," he said. "Don't let it be you." Minutes later, Brethel himself was dead, crushed by falling debris as the buildings collapsed. His body, found under a fire truck where he and a colleague had dived for cover, was one of the first recovered after the tragedy. "All he ever wanted to be was a fireman," said Brethel's sister, Elizabeth Domino, of Setauket. Brethel, who lived in Farmingville with his wife, Carol, and their two daughters, Meghan, 12, and Kristin, 14, always took advantage of time with his family. He knew what his daughters' homework assignments were and when their next orthodontist's appointment would be, Domino said. "His kids really know him," his sister said. "He was very gentle, a very guiding type of person." Brethel is also survived by his father, David Brethel of Amityville; his brothers, David Brethel of West Islip, and Bill Brethel of Columbus, Ohio; and another sister, Loretta Brethel Feret of East Meadow. He was especially involved with his family in the months just before he died, and the people who love him are thankful for that now. In April, he helped plan a family trip to Disney World with his father, three of his siblings and their children. The family hadn't taken a big group trip in years, and this time they did it up big. They reserved a bank of rooms in a hotel together and spent several days just clowning around in the Florida sun. Brethel and his daughters would make sure they were the last people to ride the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad roller coaster before the ride shut down each night. "He was like a big kid," Domino said. "And he loved to see his girls having fun like that." This fall, just before the kids went back to school, Brethel, his siblings and their children piled into three cars and made their way out to Ohio, where Brethel's brother Bill lives. It was a long car ride for just a five-day trip, but this time the family decided not to put it off. "There was no reason to do it other than 'why not?'" Domino said. "Everything just came together so that it could happen. Now it seems like it was sort of meant to be." -- Ann Givens (Newsday) ************** Remembering the Fallen Heroes/Families mourn firefighters lost in collapse September 19, 2001 Seeing the firefighters run past him in lower Manhattan last Tuesday, Capt. Daniel Brethel shouted out a warning. "Firemen will die here today," he said. "Don't let it be you." But it was Brethel, 44, who was among those who perished when the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center collapsed. He died when he pulled fellow firefighter Michael Weinberg under a truck as the towers came down. The force of the collapse on the truck crushed them both. Yesterday, Weinberg's family and firefighters said goodbye at Our Lady of Hope Roman Catholic Church in Middle Village, while Brethel's family and colleagues held a funeral for the decorated 22-year veteran at Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church in North Merrick. Another firefighter, Lt. Glenn Wilkinson, of Bayport, was given a fireman's farewell at his funeral in Blue Point. Full honor guards met the firefighters' caskets outside each ceremony, as bagpipers played plaintive music. In North Merrick, trucks' raised ladders formed a passage down Merrick Avenue for Brethel's funeral procession. The service was held in the same church where Brethel had been baptized, where he had received his first Communion, where he had been married. But in between those milestones, Brethel spent his childhood days dreaming of becoming a firefighter. His family has a home video of him in a firefighter's hat at age 5, and as a teen he used to follow the East Meadow fire trucks when they went on a call. Later, Brethel realized his dream, and rose through the ranks. His men called him "Captain Dan." "I am sure he will be called Captain Dan again when he commands the fallen firefighters who perished on that tragic day," said one of the firefighters, a longtime friend who spoke at his service. In Middle Village, the neighborhood fell silent as the pipe band played a tune for Weinberg known by its signature line, "Will ye no come back again?" Even the mechanics across the street at a Sunoco station stopped what they were doing to watch as the funeral procession left the church. Weinberg, of Maspeth, was remembered as a handsome athlete who made every firefighter in his company laugh - and for being one of the bravest in a profession filled with brave men and women. "When we had a fire in a high-rise, he was the first one up the stairs," said firefighter James Halligan of Manhattan's Engine Co. 1, as rays of sun streamed through the stained-glass skylight of the church. In Blue Point, it was a single bagpiper who played "Amazing Grace" while hundreds of New York City and local firefighters saluted the casket that carried Lt. Glenn Wilkinson of Brooklyn's Engine 238. In a fitting tribute to Wilkinson, 46, who relished coaching T-ball and volunteering for school trips, school children and area residents lined the streets outside Our Lady of the Snow Roman Catholic Church. Wilkinson died shortly after the first building at the World Trade Center collapsed last Tuesday. He had taken a head count of his men and, when he realized one was missing, he rushed into the second building to find him, said Capt. Chris McKnight of Engine 238. "Glenn was right on the scene ... a hero in the truest sense of the word," he said. Wilkinson was eulogized as a selfless man who never let egotism or hubris cloud his concern for others. "I was always proud of my big brother Glenn ... I was especially glad to tell anyone I met my brother was a New York City fireman," said James Wilkinson, of Norfolk, Va. Civilian victims of the disaster were laid to rest yesterday, too. Friends, family and co-workers spilled from the Boulevard Riverside Chapel in Hewlett, where memorial services were held for Andrew J. Stern, 41, of Bellmore. Stern, a broker at Cantor Fitzgerald in the World Trade Center's north tower, died in Tuesday's tragedy. His wife, Katie, and two children, Danny, 7, and Emma, 4, learned of his death early Saturday. Rabbi Paul Joseph of Temple Emmanu-El in Lynbrook called Stern "an industrious dynamo" who "thought with his heart instead of his head." Once during a market downturn, Stern, then a novice broker, would work on Wall Street all day, then wait tables at night to provide for his family. Below the podium where close friends stood to speak about Stern's life, a large gold picture frame held a dozen photographs, a testament of the memories about which his loved ones spoke. With tear-choked voices, they recalled Stern's devotion to the Yankees. They smiled at the memory of his dismal golf game and via her daughter, Stern's mother asked that her son's senseless death be a reminder for everyone to love one another. "Those of you who knew Andrew ... know he would hate this," continued his sister, Lisa Burch, noting Stern's aversion to being praised or being the center of attention. At St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church in Manhasset yesterday, hundreds of mourners bid farewell to Michael Seaman, a man they said was a wonderful coach, friend and father. "First and foremost, Michael was a family man," said his friend Brendan LaVelle, who spoke at the service. LaVelle said Seaman's house was always full of happy faces, hot meals and, on any given Saturday night, a blowout slumber party for one of Seaman's three children. Seaman once told his wife that, if he were to die, he already would have lived a full life, LaVelle said. A senior vice president at Cantor Fitzgerald Securities, Seaman, 40, was on the 104th floor of the World Trade Center's north tower at the time of the attack. The Rev. Peter Dugandzic, who offered the Mass, said it is important for Seaman's friends and family to remember all the good things about him now. "He's become like a thread that passes through each and every one of us," Dugandzic said. "He loved us, and he still loves us." The crowd at Seaman's service spilled onto the sidewalk outside the church, and mourners had to walk from parking spots several blocks away. Seaman was the second victim of the World Trade Center attack to be memorialized at St. Mary's. Donald Robson of Plandome, who worked for Cantor Fitzgerald, was remembered at a service Saturday. There also were funerals yesterday for Brooklyn's Squad 1 firefighter Peter Carroll and Daniel Suhr, of Engine 216. The priest who presided over Brethel's service, too, was scheduled to perform more funerals. After shaking hands with well-wishers at Sacred Heart, the Rev. Jim Vlaun started to walk away before stopping to let out a sigh. "I have another one Wednesday," he said. "This won't be over for a long time." --Erik Holm (Newsday) Staff writers Ann Givens, William Murphy, J.Jioni Palmer and Nedra Rhone contributed to this story. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------