Updated: Thursday, December 9, 1999 - 10 PM
Special Train Honors Firefighters
STRAT DOUTHAT
Associated Press Writer
WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) -- Among the thousands who came to Worcester to mourn six fallen firefighters Thursday were hundreds of their comrades from Connecticut who filled a special Amtrak train to make a sacred pilgrimage.
AP World Wide Photos/Bob Child
Firefighters board a special train in Springfield, Mass., Thursday, Dec. 9, 1999, en route to Worcester, Mass., for the memorial service.
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After attending a memorial service also attended by President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore, most of the uniformed firefighters, their badges covered with black tape, visited the smoldering warehouse where the six men died on Dec. 3.
``What happened in Worcester could have happened to anybody on this train,'' said John Duhamel, a Hartford firefighter with 12 years of experience. ``It's something you try to keep in the back of your mind but sometimes can't.''
Capt. Kevin Delaney was among 100 New Haven firefighters who made the trip aboard the special 12-car train. He watched silently, almost reverently, as smoke curled up from the warehouse shell, which still holds the bodies of four victims.
``I would guess they got disoriented in that dark building,'' Delaney said. ``It can be so dark, what with the smoke and everything, that you can't see your hand in front of your face.''
The gutted warehouse is just a stone's throw from the train station where the Amtrak special arrived after stops in New Haven, Hartford, Windsor, Windsor Locks and Springfield, Mass.
AP World Wide Photos/Bob Child
Firefighters line up on the platform at the Worcester, Mass., train station Thursday, Dec. 9, 1999 as they wait for their train home after attending a memorial service in Worcester for six firefighters killed in a warehouse fire on Friday, Dec. 9, 1999. A special Amtrak train transported more than 1,000 firefighters western Massachusetts and Connecticut to and from the service.
Another train in New York was packed with city firefighters, NewsDay reported.
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John Mudry, a Hartford firefighter the past 19 years, was making his second trip to Worcester within the past four days. He and some friends first came up on Monday to view the fire scene for themselves. On Thursday, they carried a memorial plaque when they boarded the train.
They presented the plaque to their Worcester comrades at the memorial ceremony. It depicts firefighters in action and reads: ``In honor of our fallen brothers who made the ultimate sacrifice.''
Two firefighters on the train passed the hat for the victim's families. They collected $3,630 within 30 minutes.
``Firefighters are truly brothers,'' Duhamel said. ``I've had a lot of jobs but never the camaraderie I've found in the fire department.''
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