Ceremony
At about six this morning we were awakened by the loudspeaker on a police cruiser outside of our window, apologetically telling everyone on the street to move their vehicles.
The cause, I discovered later, was a funeral today at the beautiful neo-Gothic Catholic church that stands just about 50 yards from my front door, for one of the lost members of Rescue Squad 1. The squad is located just around the corner on Union Street. I heard the bagpipers warming up and went out to find at hundreds of firefighters in full dress uniforms, waiting for the procession to begin. There were firefighters from Baltimore, Chicago, and other cities and towns besides the many from New York City firehouses.
They were milling around, chatting with each other and shaking off the cold as the bagpipes warmed up a block away. Many of them had that slightly old-fashioned brushy mustache that seems like an optional part of the uniform. One guy who had come to the city with the Worcester, Massachusetts force had left his black tie on the bus; I went up to the apartment and found him a spare. It was nice to feel slightly useful.
The procession was one of the most stirring things I’ve ever seen. All of the uniformed firefighters turned and stood at attention as the procession passed in review; the pipers played flawlessly and then marched past to the sound of muffled drums. The sun shone between quick-moving clouds; the leaves in the trees hissed in the wind. A old fire truck from perhaps the 1940s carried the flag-draped casket. As the body was removed from the truck and carried inside the church, the body of firefighters – a long line five deep that stretched for more than a city block – held a salute.
They remained rigid at attention for a long while in the chilly breeze, as the mourners passed into the church. Then the firefighters finally dispersed into small bands, walking up to Seventh Avenue in search of lunch or a beer, or huddled with each other; like one bunch that gathered in front of my stoop, grim and genial at the same time.
Posted by B T at October 17, 2001 02:10 PM