NEAFC 70th Annual Conference.pdf - New England Association of ...

until on my 51st birthday -- and for those of you who don’t
know, that’s May 26th.
[Laughter]
REVEREND FOLEY:-- when there was an article in The
Boston Globe by Mike Barnicle. Now, many of you know Mike
Barnicle is a very famous columnist. His articles are read
throughout the entire country, not simply in the Greater Boston
area. And as the saying goes, Mike likes to tell it as it is. And in
part what he had to say about that fire and what has followed
in the 20 years ever since that time in this struggle.
I mention this because the 20th anniversary was this past
Wednesday, but it is symbolical 6f the struggle that we have
day in and day out to make the public realize what the fire
service is all about. And I like that term "service" as opposed to
"department" because it reminds us ofwhat our existence is for
others.
"I remember," says Mike, " when with no warning at 1730
hours floors collapsed like egg shells and more than 25 firefighters
toppled through the dust and embers, bricks and boards,
landing in a rubble of ash and blood. I remember the screams
and I can still see the bodies, nine ofthem, mangled, mutilated,
being carried out of the debris and darkness by their comrades
in tears."
And he goes on to describe the funeral at Holy Cross Cathedral,
which many of us left to attend in Boston with some 10,000
firefighters in uniform, with Cardinal Medeiros himself presiding
over the common funeral of nine firefighters whose caskets
lined the entire front of that huge cathedral.
And the many thousands who stood outside in the pouring
rain because they could not fit within those hallowed walls, I
remember that day well as I remember every funeral I’ve ever
celebrated for a firefighter who died in the line of duty. But now
here is the part that’s even sadder.
Now, 20 years after the fire, the Department in Boston is still
struggling to place but a small plaque on the sidewalk near the
corner of Commonwealth and Dartmouth. But all the aristocrats
on State Street, those who dress in fancy suits and expensive
clothing, have thought that plaque might detour tourists.
It might be bad, maybe so, t~hey said, on the city’s history.
Well, the Department administration and the firefighters
union are still struggling. "I think they’ll say no again," Mr.
Kilduff, the secretary of the union said, "they aren’t really in-
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