Fire Hero Killed In War After New York Woes

A former Queens man killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq took a dangerous job driving trucks there to fund his long-running legal battle over his FDNY pension, his brother said yesterday.

"It was like he was addicted to a drug," Richard Zbryski said of his slain brother's 13-year fixation with the pension feud.

Walter Zbryski, 56, died June 17 while driving a truck for Halliburton in a military convoy.

"He had part of his brain taken out, and he had screws in his back" because of FDNY injuries, Richard said. "But he wanted to get money for his latest appeal."

Walter was severely hurt three times as a firefighter