DAVID K. LI
NY Post Online
FDNY Capt. Frank Callahan was remembered in a dramatic Lincoln Center ceremony yesterday as a man who lived and died by the creed of firefighters - first in and last out.
"I know you didn't escape, but I know you weren't trying to," said his daughter, Nora, reading an open letter to her dad.
"I think about you all the time . . . for a little while, I thought if anyone was going to walk out of that, it'd be you."
Friends and other family members eulogized the Ladder Co. 35 veteran as a calm leader who needed few words to capture the devotion of his men.
Callahan, 51, was among 11 firefighters from Ladder Co. 35 and accompanying Engine Co. 40 to die in the Sept. 11 World Trade Center attacks.
The firehouse is at West 66th Street and Amsterdam Avenue, just around the corner from the memorial service at Alice Tully Hall.
Almost 1,000 of New York's Bravest, dressed in formal blue uniforms, lined 65th Street and saluted a solemn procession from the firehouse to Tully Hall.
Memorial black-and-purple bunting draped two fire engines that proceeded bagpipes and Callahan's family.
Nora Callahan said her dad studied for the chief's test, but blew off exam day because the 28-year veteran realized administrative work could never trump his passion for fighting fires and rescuing people.
"One thing you weren't short of was courage," she said.
Just before Ladder Co. 35 raced for the World Trade Center, Callahan made calls to his four children and wife. Friends said Callahan's final words to his wife, Angela, were: "It's bad, I gotta go."
Related:
