Missing
Firefighter Always Knew His Calling
A lot of 3-year-olds want to be a fireman when they grow up. The
difference is, Michael Cawley never lost that ambition. He became
a fireman. Then on Sept. 11, he died while trying to save others.
Protecting the lives of Queens residents and the firefighters
with whom he rode on countless neighborhood runs was a mantle
Cawley wore proudly for nearly three decades. To people who knew
him, being a firefighter—and his family—were what he cared about
most, from the day he learned to walk, to the day he was laid
to rest, last Sunday at the Church of Mary’s Nativity in Flushing.
"Michael epitomized all that’s best about being a firefighter,"
said Capt. James McNally, the commander of Ladder 136 in Elmhurst.
"He had a really youthful enthusiasm for his job and every aspect
of his life." For many of New York’s Bravest, the duty and romance
of firefighting is born in their immediate family, through fathers
and uncles, brothers and cousins on the job relaying stories of
valor and lives redeemed. Cawley’s father, a retired insurance
man, always dreamed of being be a fireman. But his yearnings came
at a time when the department didn’t allow — and technology could
not yet help — recruits with imperfect vision. But Jack Cawley
made sure to teach his sons Michael and Brendan about the honor
of being a New York City fireman. "He had a fire radio and would
take us to see the fires in the neighborhood," Brendan told the
Courier in an interview outside Ladder 136 last Saturday. "We
would be there for hours. My mother would prepare dinner, but
the three of us were nowhere to be found. We were out watching
the firemen putting out the fires." Michael’s young face became
so familiar around the firehouse on Stillman Ave. in Woodside,
that the firefighters would wave to him and call out his name
from their huge, cherry-red truck on the way to or from a call.
"My mother would always wonder how these men knew my brother so
well," Brendan recalled with a sad smile. Michael earned a perfect
score on both the department’s written and physical exams and
officially joined its ranks in Oct. 1995. From day one, he stepped
forward whenever he was needed, to save a life or just bolster
the camaraderie of his buddies. "This guy had a tremendous heart,
he would sign up for everything," said Michael Russo, a fireman
at Ladder 136. "He would buy all the jerseys for the football
league and play for the softball league. He was always there when
he was needed." Especially when the fire bell sounded at Ladder
136. Earlier this year, Cawley was the first firefighter up the
ladder, risking his life to save a telephone worker in Middle
Village who had been electrocuted and lay draped and motionless
over live wires strung high above the ground. It is an act that
would earn him an accommodation for bravery, said Capt. McNally.
In the early hours of Sept. 11, before the first plane hit the
World Trade Center, Cawley was finishing a tour of duty at Engine
292 on Queens Blvd., where he had been detailed for the night.
By the time the first plane hit the World Trade Center, Cawley’s
shift was done. He could have chosen to opt out, to go home and
rest his weary bones after a grueling 15-hour night tour. Opting
out would probably have saved Michael Cawley’s life. But it wasn’t
in his nature. "There was never any question with Mikey," said
Bill Pence, his fellow firefighter at Ladder 136. "He
just grabbed his stuff, jumped up on the rig and off he went.
If people needed help, Mike was there." Life without Michael these
past few weeks has been one of "peaks and valleys," said Brendan,
who shares the mourning for Michael with his father, mother Margaret
and sister Kristin. In the window of their Flushing home is a
sign reading "God Bless our Hero Michael." For to them he was
a hero and never a victim. Brendan, 28, has decided to join the
fire department. "It’s something I have been thinking about for
a long time, and it’s something I really want to do now," he said.
"You work hard, but you also get big chunks of time to be with
your family. It’s a good life. I think Michael would be proud."
—With Joe Orlando
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