Kid's Tribute for Fallen Firefighters

ASSOCIATED PRESS

WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) -- Gabriella Leone, only 11, wanted to do something to honor the six Worcester firefighters killed in the line of duty.

She woke up early Thursday and made a drawing of a fire helmet with the number "6" in a circle and these words: "Gone but not forgotten."

Then, along with her mother, three younger sisters and thousands of townspeople, she stood on the street, holding the homemade drawing. Her sisters held similar signs with words of sorrow and sketches of themselves with tears dripping from their eyes.

For three hours, a stream of blue uniforms, thousands of firefighters side by side, some from as far away as Ireland and Australia, passed them in a three-mile procession.

They marched to the death beat of lone drummers and bagpipers wailing "Minstrel Boy," and "Blue Bells of Scotland," odes to fallen heroes, and "Scotland the Brave," a traditional march, and the Marine Corps Hymn.

The Leone children held red carnations in the sea of blue and tossed them to the passing firemen.

Gabriella said the idea was hers.

"Because I'm sorry for the firefighters and I'm sorry for the children because they won't have any fathers now on Christmas," she said. "I'm sorry that people don't have their husbands and their fathers anymore because they died in the fire. ... They'll be crying and they'll be really sad because it will be their first Christmas without their dad."

The six firemen left 17 children.

The children's mother, Donna Leone, said they had asked her what they could do for the lost heroes.

"We've already given money and we've already brought food down, and so this was the symbol for them, something they could do to show the firemen that are here that they're thinking of them," said Mrs. Leone, who is expecting her fifth child.

"I have a brother that's on the Worcester Police Department and every day we have to feel that anxiety and hope that he's going to come home. I know they have a brotherhood. It moves me deeply to know that."

That brotherhood came by car, bus, train and airplane from around the world.

Gerard Woods flew from Dublin, Ireland, along with five of his fellow firemen.

"It's of great importance to be here to represent the Dublin Fire Brigade," he said. "It just is. It's a brotherhood. We all support each other and this is such a tragic event. The support is universal. It goes throughout the world."

Derek McGuinness, another Dublin firefighter, carried a plaque from his brigade for presentation to the Worcester Fire Department that bears the Dublin City crest of three castles.

The plaque carries the names of the dead with the inscription: "Who bravely gave their lives for others in the line of duty. Our thoughts and wishes are with you always."

It was a day of universal mourning in this city of 170,000, a combination of a wake, tribute and memorial service.

"Just amazing," said Valerie Brickey, office manager of Worcester Surgical Center, where the procession formed. "If they could only see what's going on for them."