IKIMULISA SOCKWELL-MASON
NY Post Online
Calling him both a hero and a friend, hundreds of people gathered yesterday to say farewell to firefighter David Weiss, a member of the elite Rescue 1 squad who died at the World Trade Center.
Mayor Giuliani told mourners gathered at the Central Synagogue on Lexington Avenue a story that illustrated Weiss' bravery and devotion to his fellow New Yorkers.
In 1997, Weiss was off-duty, driving along the FDR, when he saw a car roll off the road into the East River.
"He immediately pulled over, jumped into the frigid water and attempted to save the driver, an elderly man," Giuliani said.
"His utterly selfless act of courage earned him the praise and the gratitude then of the entire city."
The mayor added, "We have had a terrible loss, terrible losses. We have to learn how to cry and mourn and be sorrowful every day and at the same time, to laugh and go on with life. Because that's exactly what these men who gave their lives would want us to do."
Rescue 1 firefighter Thor Johanssen recalled Weiss' last birthday party, where his friends and colleagues gathered to celebrate his turning 41.
"He was saying goodnight, and he had tears in his eyes as if he couldn't believe he was so cared for and loved."
Another friend, Lt. George Healy, said, "With all respect to his Jewish faith, I consider him a saint. I'll remember him as St. David."
Longtime family friend Charles Horowitz said from the time Weiss learned to walk, he wanted to be a firefighter.
"God must have singled him out," he said.
"He placed David in a profession that required a great deal of sacrifice and love for his fellow man."
Jim Olin, a Freeport, L.I., firefighter, met Weiss 28 years ago. "We got into a fistfight and then became great friends," he said.
He looked down at Weiss' teenage children, Michael and Alissa, and told them, "Your dad loved you both, and he'd be proud of you.
"This is the way he would have wanted to go - protecting and saving others," Olin said.
Fire Commissioner Thomas Von Essen compared the FDNY, which lost 300 men at the trade center, to the synagogue where they gathered - which was rebuilt after a devastating blaze nearly destroyed it.
"The Fire Department is not in ashes," he said.
"It has a broken heart, [but] it's going to mend. It's going to fix, rebuild, retrain and regroup. It's going to do everything that it needs to, to be what it was Sept. 10."
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