Arthur "Pooch" Gulzow was laid to rest in the Grand Island City Cemetery on Monday with all the pomp and circumstance befitting a man whose firefighting career spanned more than 50 years.
The funeral for the 91-year-old Gulzow, who was assistant chief for the Grand Island Fire Department and a chief for the Grand Island Rural Fire Department, took place on a day when everybody was mindful of the dangers inherent in being a firefighter.
The Rev. Joel Schroeder, who conducted the service at St. Pauls Lutheran Church in Grand Island, took note of that fact.
Schroeder said that on Monday it would be in Gulzow's "heart, his soul and his greatest desire" to remember Wood River firefighter Capt. Robert Heminger, who died trying to save 73-year-old Anna "Annie" Carrig, who also perished in a house fire on Saturday in Wood River.
Schroeder said the families also would be on Gulzow's mind. The minister said Gulzow would be urging other people to ask, "What can we do for them?"
"He would not expect us to do (just) one, single thing," Schroeder said.
Wood River firefighter Ken Woitalewicz also was injured trying to rescue Carrig and remained in critical condition Monday at St. Francis Medical Center. Wood River firefighters have been maintaining a vigil at St. Francis in a show of support for Woitalewicz and his family.
During Gulzow's funeral, a color guard with an American flag and Grand Island firefighters' union flag preceded the casket down the center aisle of the church. The casket was followed by a firefighter holding some of the firefighting gear Gulzow wore during his career.
That, in turn, was followed by a long procession of firefighters or retired firefighters from the Grand Island Fire Department, Grand Island Rural Fire Department and several other Central Nebraska volunteer fire departments. When seated, they occupied about a dozen pews on one side of the church.
During his eulogy, Schroeder said, "When disaster strikes, most people run the other way."
But Gulzow, along with all other firefighters, respond by running toward a disaster, Schroeder said. The minister used the tragedy of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City to remind people of that fact.
Schroeder said everyone remembers the image of people running down the stairs of the World Trade Center to escape. But he said an even stronger memory of that day is of firefighters running up the stairs of the World Trade Center.
Following the service, firefighters formed a corridor outside the church and saluted as Gulzow's casket was carried to a waiting fire truck for the procession to the Grand Island City Cemetery. Bagpipes played while the casket was being placed on the truck.
The procession itself included a walking color guard, the fire truck with Gulzow's casket, a hand-drawn hook-and-ladder wagon from 1887, a contingent of firefighters who walked behind the wagon, family members in vehicles and seven fire trucks and other vehicles from a variety of fire departments.
In the cemetery, that cortege passed a massive 38-by-20-foot American flag that soared at least 50 feet into the air as it hung suspended from the end of a ladder raised from a Grand Island fire truck.
During the service in the cemetery, bagpipes once again played to honor Gulzow. The American flag that had draped his coffin was folded and presented to a family member.
The final portion of the ceremony included radio calls from both the Grand Island and Grand Island Rural departments, followed by the radio alarms for each department. That was followed by a tolling of bells.
