The First of Its Farewells

This story was reported by Mae M. Cheng, John Moreno Gonzales, Joshua Robin, Karen Freifeld, Dionne Searcey, William Murphy, Laurie Garrett and Rocco Parascandola | It was written by Gonzales.

September 16, 2001

A grieving city rocked by the carnage of the World Trade Center terror attack began burying its heroes yesterday, starting with ranking members of a Fire Department staggered by the loss of hundreds of New York's Bravest.

Somber services that drew mourning family, comrades and dignitaries including Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and former President Bill Clinton were conducted on a sun-splashed Saturday that saw New Yorkers step into forms of normalcy.

Still, the stark drama of the funerals of FDNY Chief of Department Peter J. Ganci Jr., First Deputy Commissioner William M. Feehan and the Rev. Mychal Judge, the department's beloved chaplain, made it clear that any sense of life as the city knew it is a memory.

The firefighters were among the thousands killed Tuesday when two jets slammed into the Twin Towers in a day of terror that stunned the world and put America on war footing.

"Maybe the purpose of all this ... is to find out if America today is as strong as when we fought for our independence, or when we fought for ourselves as a Union to end slavery, or as strong as our fathers and grandfathers, who fought to rid the world of Nazism and Communism," Giuliani said at Ganci's service, held at St. Kilian Roman Catholic Church in Farmingdale, not far from his North Massapequa home.

"Tuesday was the most trying day, the most difficult day," he added later. "As we get further away from Tuesday, we get stronger."

About 2,000 gathered and spilled into the streets to mourn Ganci, a 33-year veteran. As a fire truck passed bearing Ganci's coffin, active and retired comrades stood at attention, some biting their lips to hold back sobs.

Ganci, 54, was killed after rushing to the Trade Center when the first jet struck. He had sent the mayor and others out of the area after the first tower collapsed, but he rushed in the other direction to continue the rescue effort.

Some 1,000 people huddled in the pews of St. Francis of Assisi Church in midtown Manhattan to mourn Judge, who was killed as he administered last rites to a firefighter. In a downstairs sanctuary and outside on the street, another 2,000 watched a TV broadcast of the service. Cardinal Edward Egan accompanied Judge's casket from aisle to altar.

Former Police Commissioner Bill Bratton, Public Advocate Mark Green, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, her daughter, Chelsea, attorney Peter Johnson, a close friend to Judge, city Comptroller Alan Hevesi, former Manhattan Borough President Ruth Messinger and Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer were among the mourners.

Ten firefighters, some from Judge's Ladder 24 unit across from the church, flanked the casket as pallbearers.

Hillary Clinton said she was first touched by Judge when she and the former president bought a home in Westchester. They later invited Judge to their annual prayer breakfast.

"What a bearer of light," she said of the of the Brooklyn-born son of Irish emigrants. "He lit up the White House as he lit up every place he found himself."

At the Church of Saint Mel in Flushing, bagpipes tuned up for Feehan's funeral. Fire Commissioner Tom Von Essen measured what the attack had stolen.

"We can't let anyone show that they've knocked out the New York City Fire Department, but they really have," he said. "They've taken the top-level people from us, starting with commissioner chief Feehan. It will be a while before we recover, but we will."

Feehan was remembered by sons John and William.

John, beckoned to the Fire Department by his father's commitment, said, "It was like Bill Gates' son going into computers."

William observed, "There are many, many men to be sure who died with larger bank accounts than my father. But I'm sure they did not have the love and prayers to the degree he did this week."

As the victims were eulogized, the men and women they led continued rescue efforts. They and other specialists labored to clear away 1.25 million tons of the destroyed Trade Center standing seven stories high. Officials with the Federal Emergency Management Agency said it could take until the end of the year for the debris to be carted away.

At a news conference last night, authorities reported 159 confirmed dead, 99 of them identified. Reported missing were 4,972, including 300 firefighters, 23 police officers, 40 Port Authority employees, one Secret Service agent and one FBI agent.