That heartbreaking moment captured the feelings of the thousands of mourners at the funeral yesterday of FDNY firefighter James O'Shea, husband to Yetta, father to Jacob and 3-year-old Matt, and lifesaver to untold numbers of New Yorkers.
A former winner of the International Fireman of the Year award, O'Shea was the first FDNY member to die in the line of duty since Sept. 11, 2001.
But his funeral was marked by more tragedy when two buses carrying mourners crashed on a Long Island Expressway service road, injuring more than 20 people.
O'Shea, 40, was stricken by a fatal heart attack at his Holbrook, L.I., home last Saturday after ending his shift at Ladder Co. 127 in Queens. Among those attending the services at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Holbrook was fellow firefighter Rudy Reyes, whose two nephews were saved from a blaze by O'Shea when he was just starting his FDNY career in 1986.
O'Shea won the international firefighter award for that act of heroism but, as Ladder 127 Capt. Theodore Wienclaw said, "He wasn't in it for the pats on the back."
He was also a teacher of young firefighters and an innovator who, for example, redesigned a rope knot for rescuing victims, said Stephen Humenesky, a firefighter and fire union trustee.
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