The
Force Was With Him
James
R. Coyle wanted to be Luke Skywalker. But because of certain difficulties in pursuing
that career path, he decided to do what he thought was the next best thing, which
was fighting fires.
Sure,
there was no flying across galaxies or rescuing princesses, but joining the New
York Fire Department had its own rewards.
Both
of his grandfathers were New York firefighters. Firefighter Coyle joined the department's
cadet program while studying at Brooklyn College. He was 22 when he graduated
as valedictorian of that program on a wet June day about four years ago.
For
the next three years, he worked as an emergency medical technician. He delivered
a baby in the back of an ambulance. He ducked bullets in crime-ridden neighborhoods.
Last
December, he completed training in the fire academy and joined Ladder Company
3 in the East Village. One grandfather gave the firefighter his old fire hat.
The
last glimpse his mother, Regina Coyle, had of Firefighter Coyle was on her television
set on Sept. 11, when a local television station was doing a morning show on cooking
in the firehouse. He had just finished a night shift, she said, and he was there
to eat meal before heading off to Chicago on vacation.
Profile published in
THE NEW YORK TIMES on December 8, 2001.
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