Neighborhood
Pours Out Its Heart for FDNY Hero -DOUGLAS WIGHT New York Post
Online December 14, 2001
If
he wasn't out fighting fires, Capt. Vincent Brunton was usually
pouring beers at his local tavern, Farrells in Brooklyn. Yesterday,
the bar in the Windsor Terrace neighborhood was closed out of
respect, as a moving memorial service was held just yards up the
street for 43-year-old Brunton - missing after the World Trade
Center attacks. Brunton - Vinnie to his pals - had raced to the
south tower with his team from Ladder Co. 105 in Brooklyn when
the building collapsed. His firefighter brother Tommy, 44, a bagpiper
with Brooklyn Engine Co. 310, has played at countless memorials
and funerals for his fallen comrades. Yesterday it was his turn
to pay tribute to his much-loved brother at Holy Name Church on
Prospect Park West. Choking back tears, Tommy said: "To use the
common vernacular of the Brooklyn neighborhood, Vinnie was a stand-up-guy
- with an honesty beyond reproach and respected by all who knew
him." Tommy told how, in 1992 after Vincent got a medal for saving
a handicapped woman from a blaze, his pals celebrated by putting
a congratulatory message on the scoreboard at Yankee Stadium.
"Even after receiving his medal, Vinnie got a bigger charge from
seeing his name on that scoreboard," he said. Mayor Giuliani said:
"If Sept. 11 had never happened, he would have been a hero anyway
- both as a firefighter and as a man." Fire Commissioner Thomas
Von Essen paid tribute to Brunton's leadership qualities and said
that only exceptional captains went back to lead the company from
which they were promoted. He said Brunton's name would be among
those inscribed on the pillars of a new fire academy. "As someone
who felt so strongly about training," he said, "I'm sure that
would mean a lot to him." Attending the Mass were Vincent's wife,
Cathy, their children, Kelly, 22, and Tommy, 20, his other brother
Michael, 43, also a firefighter, and sister Maryann Deluise.
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