Squad 041

[Chris]

The following brothers from Squad 41 in the Bronx made the supreme sacrifice on September 11th, 2001.


SQUAD 41

Lt. Michael Healey

FF Thomas Cullen, III

FF Robert Hamilton

FF Michael Lyons*

FF Gregory Sikorsky*

FF Richard VanHine

Squad 41
330 East 150th Street
Bronx


Please make a prayer for their families.
Post a poem, picture, or song on this site.
Memorial shirts to purchase for the families may be available soon.

[patries]

Squad 41
Memoial website for all these men

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Memorialwebsite for Gregory Sikorsky. Also you can hear his last call.

[MARK7914]

VERY NICELY DONE.GREAT TRIBUTE.GREG,"MAY GOD REST YOUR SOUL"

[SeaBreeze]

Hunters Helping Heroes - 12/07/2001

An e-mail from a firefighter in NYC who lost his close hunting buddy has spurred on a Realtree fundraiser to help the wives and children of seven of this country’s bravest angels.
By Nino Bosaz

On a quiet, peaceful Saturday morning, two young, enthusiastic firefighters sat wide-eyed in front of Squad 41’s television as Bill Jordan’s Team Realtree embarked on another dream whitetail hunt. Pumped full of excitement, at the edge of their seats, Tom Foley and Ed Walsh dreamed out loud. Soon they’d be trekking to a great hunting destination where the land would be as big and beautiful as the monster bucks they’d be searching for.

A bright future was definitely on the horizon and the present couldn’t have been any better. Foley and Walsh had been tackling their dream jobs with their brothers at Squad 41 in the Bronx, New York for close to a decade. Fighting fires, saving people, and sharing quality time with family and friends were at the top of their to-do lists. They socked away “trip” money every chance they had, even worked some side jobs. Some day soon Firefighters Tom Foley and Ed Walsh would “walk the talk” of their Saturday morning hunting-show dreams.


Sadly enough, this dream never came to fruition for the hunting, fire-fighting twosome. One half of the team never touched the ground after entering the south tower of the World Trade Center on September 11th, 2001.


The caring soul of Tom Foley, like 342 other courageous members of the FDNY never touched the ground. Where the souls of America’s bravest went that day is made very clear by one special woman---Kathy Downey Ugalde, the daughter of Deputy Chief Ray Downey who was one of the 343 fallen brothers who unselfishly gave their lives to save thousands of others. For her father’s eulogy she wrote:


OUR ANGEL
On that dreadful day,
we huddled in prayer,
hearts join in sorrow,
pain difficult to bear

Our angels climbed up
as they helped others down
the Towers may have fallen
But our bravest
never touched the ground

They kept soaring up
to that heavenly cloud
shining strength down on us
we are grateful and proud

So please say a prayer
as a tribute to those
whose love never faltered
and eternally grows.


Team Realtree Asks You To Lend A Hand
I remember my mother telling me when I was a child, “God helps those that help themselves.” A true statement indeed, but as I watched events unfold on 9/11, in my mind I rearranged the old saying. God helps those that help themselves, but every so often people of the world need to lend God, and those in trouble, a helping hand.

That’s clearly what thousands of firefighters, rescue workers, police officers and everyday people did on that unfathomable day in NYC, Washington, Virginia, Pennsylvania and the rest of our great country. We all pulled loved ones close to our hearts and told them everything was going to be okay. Hundreds of “saved” WTC workers have recounted those life-threatening minutes before the towers went down. To paraphrase: At the disaster area that day, the FDNY rose to the occasion as it has thousands of times before. These men unconditionally gave their helping hands and helping hearts to save the lives of countless people.

Many heroes have fallen, yet haven’t touched the ground. They are now in heaven looking down on a nation that has come together like no other in history. We must make our brave angels proud, and see our way through these uncertain times. And contrary to that feeling of helplessness that many of us have experienced in recent months, we all can make a difference. We all can lend a helping hand in ways both big and small. It’s the least we can do for our fallen brothers and sisters---our brave angels.

Now comes the time for we as Americans to help pick up the pieces, help those in need. Give those that lost loved ones comforting hugs, kind words of encouragement, love and healing. There are thousands more angels in the heavens today because of the recent ungodly acts of pain and cruelty. These angels should be heralded for hundreds of lifetimes to come, their families left behind must be comforted by us all. The time to start the healing, helping, lending process is right here, right now.


Squad 41’s Bravest Angels
Team Realtree received a letter from firefighter Ed Walsh a short time after the tragic events of 9/11. His message was from the heart, full of both sadness and fortitude. His words truly touched the entire Realtree family. His predominant goal is to help raise funds for the widows and children of his fallen brothers. He also wishes to pay tribute to the fire warriors he went to battle with on many occasions through the rough-and-tumble streets and buildings of the Bronx, NY.


Walsh wrote: “We lost six of our men at the World Trade Center…I myself lost a good friend and longtime hunting partner Tom Foley of Rescue 3. He was a great friend and a skilled bowhunter. We spent many quiet mornings at the firehouse watching your show. Words cannot express the sadness and pain my brothers and I suffered over their losses. We are starting to take actions to provide for our six widows and their nine children by way of the ‘Squad 41 Association Heroes Fund’...”


Walsh went on to ask Realtree.com to post a link to Squad41.com’s Heroes Fund. He also asked if we could post something written about his brothers that lost their lives. We’ve obliged him and his firehouse brothers whole-heartedly. And as you’ll learn later in this piece, you too, can donate to the cause of so many broken-hearted people, in a way that only true outdoorsman can. Please take a few moments to get to know seven of Squad 41’s bravest angels.

[SeaBreeze]

LT Mike Healey

Healey, a 42-year-old, accomplished veteran, had been on the job since May of 1983. Squad 41 firefighter Ed Walsh, has fond memories Healy. They grew up in the same neighborhood in Long Island, NY. Healey was Walsh’s lacrosse coach in high school when Healey gave Walsh his first insights about working as a team. Healy is survived by his wife Theresa, son Michael (17), daughter Kathryn (15), and youngest son Matthew (12). One of Healey’s favorite hobbies was running. Mike Healy was appointed on May 7, 1983 to Engine 318, was transferred to Ladder 176 in ’86, then to Rescue 3 in ’94 where he was promoted to Lieutenant in ’97. On February 7th of 2001 he was assigned to Squad 41.

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[SeaBreeze]

FF Bob Hamilton
Forty-three-year-old Bob Hamilton became a firefighter in 1987. He was assigned to Engine 41 from proby school, then assigned to Ladder 29 in May of ’89 due to the closing of Engine 41. He made it back to what is now known as Squad 41 in the summer of ’90. He was the chauffeur of the Squad 41 rig on 9/11. Besides being a man who knew his way through the city streets, Hamilton had a passion for helping people, children especially. He was an active Boyscout leader as well as a baseball coach. He is survived by his wife Elizabeth and two children Robert (12) and Christine (7).


Squad 41 firefighter Kevin Murphy had this to say: “We’d been talking all summer about his family trip. Bob, on October 5th was supposed to go to Disney with his wife and kids.” Firefighter Walsh added this about Hamilton: “Bob was also making plans to move to a town near me. For months we laughed and joked about whose house we’d keep his fishing boat at.” Walsh somberly added, “And now he’s gone.”

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[SeaBreeze]

FF Bruce VanHine

“Bruce VanHine was the senior man,” Murphy recalled, “Bruce and I went to proby school with each other. He started a little late in life…didn’t get on the job until he was in he was almost 40.” VanHine was an avid outdoorsman who loved hiking and tree climbing especially. In March of 1990 he was appointed to the FDNY and assigned to Ladder 37 from proby school in June of that same year. He made his way to Squad 41 in December of ’97. VanHine recently enjoyed his last camping trip with fellow firefighter Charlie Schmid. Schmid is currently one of two Lieutenants still serving in Squad 41.

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[SeaBreeze]

FF Mike Lyons

“Simply a great guy,” Walsh recalled. “Lyons, Sikorsky, and Cullen all came to 41 around the same time…they were the kind of guys that just fit right in.” Firefighter Mike Lyons had a strong love for his wife Elaine and daughter Caitlyn, who recently celebrated her first birthday. Lyons’ passion for fighting fires and helping those in need never took a backseat to his love for fishing and dart playing.


He was appointed to the FDNY on April 17, 1994 and assigned to Engine 44 from proby school on July of ’94. He was later detailed to Squad 41 in December of 1999 and later assigned on June 28, 2000. Mike Lyons was only 32 years old, but he had the heart of a fire-fighting veteran.


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[SeaBreeze]

FF Tom Cullen

“Tommy was the quarterback for the FD football team,” remembered Walsh. As many of his brothers will tell you, he was an absolute sports enthusiast. He was just 31 years young, and is survived by his wife Susan and son Thomas (2). On his mass card Susan wrote the following:

When I was young, I dreamed of finding someone really special who would come into my life and love me wholly and uniquely…someone who would understand my desires, encourage my efforts, and share my dreams…When I grew older I found that person: I love you for loving me just the way I dreamed it would be.

Cullen’s father is a firefighter in the Florida Keys. Tommy Cullen, along with several other firefighters from Squad 41 had recently solidified plans to visit his father’s engine to teach some special operations rescue tactics. A short holiday full of fishing boats and warm sunsets was also in the mix. “It simply wasn’t meant to be this time,” Walsh said somberly.


Tom Cullen was assigned to Squad 41 on June 28, 2000.

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[SeaBreeze]

FF Greg Sikorsky

Thirty-four year old “Ski,” as his brothers referred to him was appointed to the FDNY on February 4, 1996 and assigned to Engine 46 from proby school in May of that same year. He later rotated through Engine 47, Ladder 50 then back to Engine 46 in ’98. He had been detailed to Squad 41 since 2000.

Greg Sikorsky is survived by his wife Marie and son Steven (3).

Walsh recalled with a smile, “Ski was a hardcore Harley Davidson man and an awesome mechanic. He worked on all of our personal cars. My fondest memory comes from a picture I have of him where he’s looking under the hood of my car and using one of those stethoscopes to figure out the problem. He actually fixed the car that day using the ‘scope.”

Sikorsky was the type of guy to buy kit cars and build them from scratch. His most recent project vehicle was and old fire truck circa 1950. He was in the middle stages of the ground-up restoration project, having new parts made and expending lots of elbow grease doing something he loved. Currently the senior Sikorsky is trying to raise funds to have his son’s dream truck completed. When finished Ski’s 1950 masterpiece will be proudly displayed at his dad’s gas station in tribute to his brave angel.

Walsh ended on an upbeat note saying, “We’ve all got some really great memories of these guys. All of us here at Squad 41 will keep them all very close to our hearts.”

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[SeaBreeze]

FF Tom Foley

His fire fighting accolades have been written about in several newspaper articles. He was interviewed and featured on the television program Extra. He was even pictured in People magazine’s “sexiest men at work” article a short time ago. But he was not the boastful type. If Tom Foley was here today he’d be saying “Any guy on the job on September 11th would have done the same thing I did…go into those buildings and go to work.“

Ed Walsh had a true friend, and hunting partner in Tom Foley. More importantly, Foley was a honest-to-goodness brother that would “have his back” under the most unthinkable, life-threatening situations. Walsh repaid the favor many times to Foley as did all the other brothers of Squad 41.

One day in the summer of ‘99 Foley helped save a construction worker that was dangling from a broken scaffold, some 120-feet up the side of a building in Harlem, NY. By way of rope, muscle and heroic determination, Foley was lowered from the top of the roof by Ed Walsh. In the backup position that day was firefighter Bruce VanHine. If anything had gone wrong for Foley, VanHine would’ve been next in line to be lowered down to help save the man in trouble. VanHine, as you’ll learn later is one of the six men from 41 that was killed at the WTC.

Why did Walsh have to lose his best friend at the WTC? “It was luck of the draw that day, just like any other day on the job,” recalled Walsh. “It could have been any one of us here. Basically, whoever was on the job that day was going down there.”

Foley had been quoted in the past, “Every day I go to work, it’s different. Every day, I have no idea what’s going to happen.” He also figured, “God had me out to be a fireman.” Foley, like most of his brothers truly loved his job. It was a calling for him that he’d dreamed about since his early days growing up in the Castle Hill section of the Bronx.

His dreams of righteous public service were coupled with his love for the outdoors and maintaining a promising landscaping business on the side. But bowhunting was his ultimate passion outside of being a firefighter. Walsh recalled, “Tommy, unlike myself, had taken not one, but four Pope & Young whitetails! He was a damn good hunter.” Perhaps God and a little bit of luck, plus a lot of target practice in the basement of the firehouse all contributed to Foley’s deer-hunting success.

“Foley was a die-hard hunter,” recalled Walsh. “Last year, Opening day of shotgun season in New York, Tommy and I had to attend a funeral for a fellow firefighter. It was a line of duty death.” The two wanted to hunt in the worst way, but knew the importance of paying last respects to one of their fallen brothers. They decided that gun-hunting in the north country was out of the question, but they could likely get in an early morning bowhunt close to Foley’s home in Rockland County, New York. “We planned on bowhunting till 9, but going to that funeral was the most important thing for us to do on that day,” said Walsh.

“I had two decent bucks just out of bow range, but mingling in my direction,” Walsh said energetically. Foley was in a treestand not too far away. “Out of nowhere came a coyote that busted those two bucks out of my view heading right for Tommy.” When the post was over the two met up in the woods. A wide-eyed Foley questioned his partner like only hunting buddies can do, “Did you shoot at one of those bucks? They came by me doin’ 100 miles an hour! You must of hit one!” Walsh informed his pal of the hairy culprit and the duo headed back home to get into their ‘Class A’s” to attend the mass.

That hunt was one of the last the two shared. Tom Foley left Squad 41 in November of 2000, but the hunting partners remained in close contact. They did their share of striped-bass fishing off Long Island’s South Shore, and made many great trips to Irish festivals in Upstate New York. Foley was then assigned to Rescue 3—one of the many companies that met their end in downtown New York City on that dreadful day.

"There’s not anybody in here that doesn’t want to go to a fire. There’s not a guy in here that wouldn’t give the shirt off his back for you."

Tom Foley is survived by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Foley, his younger brother Daniel who is still a firefighter in the Bronx and his sister Joanne Gross, a public-school teacher near the family home in Orange County, New York.

To give readers an idea how dedicated members of the FDNY truly are, Walsh still says this about his occupation, “You could offer to pay me $100,000 a year for another line of work, but I’d still turn it down.” During each 24-hour shift the men wait in the firehouse for a code 1075 (fire in progress) to screech from the dispatcher intercom. In one of his last interviews Foley bellowed, “When we hear that from dispatch, everybody here jumps. There’s not anybody in here that doesn’t want to go to a fire. There’s not a guy in here that wouldn’t give the shirt off his back for you. It’s nice to have guys you can rely on.”

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[SeaBreeze]

Squad 41 Homepage

[Neil]

SQUAD 41 BRONX HARLEM
PRAY FOR THEM

[SeaBreeze]

LETTERKENNY, IRELAND, PAYS TRIBUTE TO BRONX FIREFIGHTERS
VIA VIDEOCONFERENCE AT LEHMAN


Technology brought sympathy and support across an ocean this Thanksgiving, as the firefighters and townspeople of Letterkenny in County Donegal, Ireland, communicated their condolences - and a check for $9100 - directly to the members of New York Fire Department Squad 41.

An hour-long videoconference November 21 at the Bronx Information Network, based in Lehman's Information Technology Center, made it possible for the town's representatives - who had gathered at a teleconferencing facility at a local hospital - to speak directly with the squad's captain and six of its firefighters.

Angela O'Donnell, visiting New York for a niece's wedding, was selected to present the check. Mrs. O'Donnell lost four of her seven children in a house fire in 1986 and helped to organize the auction and dance in Letterkenny that raised the funds. Local firefighters solicited gifts from area merchants for the auction.

Squad 41 was chosen as the recipient through a combination of television news footage and a search on the internet. "We preferred to give to a specific group," Mrs. O'Donnell explained, "rather than contribute to a general fund." In searching for such a group, Mel Healy in Letterkenny succeeded in making contact through email with Ed Walsh at the Bronx squad and then with Jerry Barnard at Lehman.

"We have six families to take care of," Walsh said, noting that the widow of one of the men lost in the World Trade Center attack had recently given birth to a new baby and that brought to 11 the number of children who will be assisted by the funds.

Captain Russell Vomero, who accepted the check on behalf of the squad, held up photos of each of the men who had perished: Lieut. Mike Healy and Firefighters Bobby Hamilton, Bruce VanHine, Tommy Cullen, Mike Lyons and Greg Sikorsky. "It makes you feel good that people around the world are supporting us," he said.

"We're glad we could be a part of it, small or large," responded Michael Malloy, the fire station chief of Letterkenny, who sat along with a dozen other firefighters and townspeople behind a table decorated with the flags of both countries.

Part of the videoconference featured music appropriate to the moment. Local musician Hugh McLean sang a song he had composed about sons returning to Letterkenny after a long time away, and newspaper editor Martin McGinley joined with McLean - and some of the folks in the Bronx - for "Donegal Shores," whose lyrics speak of "days that are gone and will return no more."

The link that established between the town and the Bronx squad promises to continue, with invitations to visit extended from both sides, including one to a Letterkenny runner who hopes to join in the New York City marathon next year.


http://www.lehman.cuny.edu/docs/mess...tterkenny.html

Squad 41 firefighters (from left) Kevin McAdams, Larry Sullivan, Kevin Murphy, Capt. Russell Vomero, Ed Walsh, Rich Tino and Jon McGetrick. Mrs. Angela O'Donnell (center) from Letterkenny presented a check from the town for $9,100 as a contribution to the squad's memorial fund