This Band of Brothers Honored Every Hero
FDNY Pipes and Drums Has Played at Over 300 Hero Services
RITA DELFINER
Courtesy New York Post
• Images from Ground Zero: Click for Slideshow
September 12, 2002 -- The wailing skirls of bagpipes sounding a mournful farewell to fallen firefighters are among the Bravests' most hallowed traditions.
And since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York, the 70 members of the FDNY Emerald Society Pipes and Drums Band - most of them active firefighters - have played at more than 300 funerals and memorial services for the 343 colleagues lost at the Twin Towers.
"In the early weeks following the tragedy, often after working grueling hours at Ground Zero, they covered the more than 15 daily scheduled services," said former First Deputy Fire Commissioner Michael Regan, who nominated the band for The Post's Liberty Community Medal.
"They performed in an extraordinary manner during the most horrific time of their lives and figured out ways of making sure there was no family left unhonored, no family left unrecognized."
In order to play at services held on the same day in locations ranging from Staten Island to Long Island, the band split itself into six different teams - two covering upstate and two each for the city and Long Island.
"Sometimes, we would go to a funeral, pipe the body into the church, then go to another church close by and pipe that body out of the church and run to the first church in time to pipe the body out," said retired Fire Lt. Jim McEnaney, 61.
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