Image
Captured in a Photo
Three
brothers two firefighters and a police officer went
to ground zero on Wednesday, Sept. 12, to search for the fourth:
Robert Curatolo, 31, a firefighter and the baby of the family,
married only three weeks. They had a pretty good idea where he
was, because rescuers had already found the helmet of the lieutenant
he had been with. Rescuers had also, it turned out, found Mr.
Curatolo's body, under a firetruck. The brothers were told it
would be better if someone else made the ID.
Quiet
Robert, funny Robert, Robert who ironed his clothes and worked
two jobs. "He was the cautious one, I was the wild one; I
still can't believe this happened," said Billy Curatolo,
a firefighter with Engine 243 in Brooklyn.
Robert
Curatolo, who lived in Staten Island, was off duty when the towers
were hit, one of the guys whose shift ended at 9 a.m. He hitched
a ride to the scene with a 19th Precinct car. After the first
building collapsed he was seen dragging a man with two broken
legs to safety, then in an eerie photo snapped by another
firefighter heading back to the second building. That is
the last image his brothers have of him.
"We
always have birthday parties for the nieces and the nephews and
he was always late and always since he was a teenager
he would arrive saying, 'Hello, my fans!" said brother Anthony,
the cop.
"He
was always late to everything," said his brother Billy. "Except
the World Trade Center. He gets there on time."
Profile published in THE NEW YORK TIMES on September 22, 2001.
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