BRAD HUNTER
NY Post Online
October 1, 2001 -- When Dennis Kelly attends his firefighter brother's memorial service tomorrow, he will be thinking about his own heart-shattering quest in the terrifying minutes following the attack on the World Trade Center.
The 43-year-old Huntington, Conn., man, an IBM consultant, recalled yesterday how he sprinted through lower Manhattan in a desperate search for his hero brother.
Kelly said that when he emerged from the No. 4 train's Wall Street station just after 8:45 a.m. on Sept. 11, chaos reigned above and in the streets.
His first reaction to the unbelievable events unfolding before him was deep concern for his brother Tom, who was attached to nearby Ladder 15 at the South Street Seaport Station.
"I ran as fast as I could to the firehouse, about 12 blocks away, to make sure Tommy was OK," Kelly said. "That was what was going through my mind."
When he arrived, two firefighters had been left behind, Eric Olsen and Arthur Barry, whom Kelly knew. They told him his brother - a 17-year FDNY vet who would have turned 51 on Sept. 18 - had been on the first truck to leave the station.
"I said ‘Eric, where's Tommy?' And that's when I found out. Now both those guys are missing too," he said. "I looked over and there was my brother's name on the duty blackboard, my stomach almost dropped."
Tom Kelly is survived by Kitty and his sons Frank and Thomas. A memorial service for Tom Kelly will be held tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. at St. Peter's Church, 53 St. Marks Place, Staten Island.
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