BALDWIN, N.Y. (AP) -- It will likely go down as one of the defining images of the Bush presidency: the president standing with his arm around a firefighter atop a smoky pile of rubble at ground zero just three days after terrorists destroyed the World Trade Center.
In the nearly five years since, Bob Beckwith has sought to use the fame he gained from standing alongside President Bush to help others.
"It was very nice getting my picture taken with the president," said Beckwith, who retired in 1994 after 30 years with the FDNY but felt drawn to the disaster site to see what he could do. "But I got my picture taken for a bad thing. We lost a lot of good guys, a lot of good people."
Beckwith's "15 minutes of fame" included being flown to Germany, where he was interviewed by television reporters about his encounter with the president.
He gives speeches from time to time, explaining his moment of fame and his years of service. Beckwith directs honoraria to the New York Firefighters Burn Center Foundation. Over the past five years, he estimates he has sent $50,000 to help burn victims.
"We used to take kids out of fires and put them in ambulances and never heard anything about them," Beckwith said. "I often wondered what happened to those really badly burned kids."
