'Bravest'
hurt in Iraq back in U.S.
BY HERBERT LOWE
STAFF WRITER
December
6, 2004
Wounded firefighter Daniel Swift hopes to be at this week's funeral
of the city firefighter killed when their National Guard unit was
attacked in Iraq, Swift's stepmother said yesterday.
Swift,
24, of Ladder Co. 43 in Manhattan, arrived at a small hospital unit
at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland on Saturday night, said Paula
Swift of the Bronx.
An army medic with A Company of the 69th Infantry, Swift nearly
lost a leg to shrapnel when his unit came under attack outside of
Baghdad on Nov. 29. He has had surgery to remove the shrapnel from
his leg, and doctors will also remove it from his right eye. He
had been at a military hospital in Germany.
"He's
doing good, he's in great spirits, he really sounds good,"
said Paula Swift, who talked to her stepson by phone yesterday afternoon.
"He was just talking about how he was feeling and stuff like
that. I said it was good to hear him and was glad he sounded good."
Swift's
father, John Swift, and mother, Kate Daly, were on their way to
Fort Hood, Texas, where their son was to be transferred by Tuesday,
Paula Swift said. Daniel Swift intends to be back in New York by
Thursday for the funeral of Sgt. Christian Engeldrum, 39, a firefighter
from Ladder Co. 61 in the Bronx, who was leading the Guard unit.
"Hopefully,
he can work it out and get here," Paula Swift said.
A
wake for Engeldrum will be held 2-7 p.m. tomorrow and Wednesday
at Schuyler Hill Funeral Home, 3535 E. Tremont Ave. in the Bronx.
A requiem Mass will be celebrated 11 a.m. Thursday at St. Benedict
Roman Catholic Church, 2969 Otis Ave., Schuylerville in the Bronx.
Burial
services will be at 3 p.m. Friday at Arlington National Ceremony.
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