Saluting
a Hero
Dec 15, 2001 Photo Gallery Photos: Memorial for Ray Downey Top
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for Campaign Finance Fund's Future By Samuel Bruchey and Michael
Rothfeld Staff Writers December 16, 2001 They braced themselves
against metal railings on the cold, clear morning Saturday, hundreds
of them, to pay their respects to the New York City firefighter
they always knew as a giant, and now the world knows, too. In
the street, Raymond Downey's troops stood saluting him for the
last time as the truck from Rescue Company 2 rumbled slowly down
Deer Park Avenue. Then with only his memory to honor, firefighters
unloaded a bed of red, white and blue flowers with his helmet
resting on top and carried them into the packed Sts. Cyril and
Methodius Church. Additional mourners gathered in an adjacent
school to watch the memorial service on a large-screened television.
"How often have we decried our children no longer have any heroes,”
Monsignor Brendan Riordan said from the pulpit moments later.
"How blind of us not to know that the heroes have been around
us all the time. We are here this morning saluting a truly world-class
hero, Deputy Chief Raymond Matthew Downey.” Downey, 63, of Deer
Park, was last seen in the lobby of the Marriott Hotel on Sept.
11, directing the rescue mission as the World Trade Center towers
crumbled around him. His body has not been found. During his 39-year
career, Downey became one of the city's most decorated firefighters
and achieved almost mythical status among them for his steely
resolve in the face of disaster. Fire Commissioner Thomas Von
Essen said yesterday learning of Downey's loss was as crushing
a blow as he suffered on Sept. 11. "It was absolutely impossible
to overcome,” Von Essen said. "I couldn't imagine the New York
City Fire Department without Ray Downey, especially with this
tragedy to deal with.” A nationally known expert on urban search-and-rescue
efforts, Downey directed recovery efforts at the bombings of the
World Trade Center in 1993 and of the federal building in Oklahoma
City in 1995. Downey, who long led Rescue 2 in Brooklyn, was head
of the New York Fire Department's special operations command at
his death. His memorial mass yesterday drew hundreds, from as
far as Broward County, Fla., where Peter DeJesse, a firefighter
from Fort Lauderdale, took classes from Downey on dealing with
hazardous materials. "He shakes your hand, and its like you've
known him for 20 years,” DeJesse said, standing outside the church.
Chris Pelszynski, a volunteer firefighter from North Babylon,
had never met Downey, but still wanted to help hoist one of the
three American flags from fire trucks on both sides of Deer Park
Avenue. "He was like God, that's what everybody says,” said Pelszynski,
referring to Downey's nickname. After mourners entered the church
to bagpipes playing "Danny Boy,” Msgr. Riordan spoke, and Downey's
widow, Rosalie, walked with family members down the center aisle,
laying a red rose on the pew. She sat with their five children,
Lt. Chuck Downey of Commack, fire Capt. Joseph Downey of West
Islip, Ray Downey Jr. of Babylon, Marie Tortorici of Deer Park
and Kathy Ugalde of Deer Park. Addressing them, Gov. George Pataki
said, "We hope you have some consolation knowing that on that
horrible day, the actions of Ray Downey and the men that he trained
saved thousands and thousands of lives.” Mayor Rudolph Giuliani
recalled two days this year when Downey stayed away from home,
first to battle a gas main rupture in Brooklyn, and then to work
at a building collapse in lower Manhattan. When the mayor asked
him how he was at the time, Downey said he was fine, but asked
Giuliani to bring his wife a note, excusing his absence. "Now
I ask Rosalie to excuse his absence one last time,” Giuliani said
yesterday. "Her husband, our hero, has laid down his life doing
what he loved to do.” Others recalled some of Downey's signature
rescue missions. In Oklahoma City, he urged those he oversaw to
recover the most bodies, and they did, said Lt. Al Fuentes of
Rescue 2. At the scene of the US Air Flight 405 crash at LaGuardia
Airport in 1992, Fuentes said, Downey "was directing the rescue
effort like he was directing a symphony orchestra.” His five children
and two of Downey's grandchildren described a quiet, strong father
who pushed them to excel in sports and learn the value of earning
a living. To them, he was the man who piled into the car and drove
to Iowa for an important wrestling match, who blew up the balloons
at a birthday party. His son, Ray Downey Jr., who was one of the
last to speak yesterday, said, "I didn't need Sept. 11 to tell
me who my hero was.” Copyright © 2002, Newsday, Inc.
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