Firefighter Michael Lyons, 32, never had the chance to meet his second daughter. She was born in November of 2011 and was given the middle name of “Michael.” His first daughter had been born just the year before on his own birthday. His wife wrote that his first daughter slowed him down from working all the time – not only at the firehouse but doing engineering jobs on the side. Or roofing. Or driving a hot dog truck. Or working the counter at the deli where they met. This 10-year FDNY vet spent five years with Squad 41 and loved everything about his job.
Firefighter Robert Hamilton loved organizing the annual Christmas party at Squad 41. At home, his family’s tree could never go up before the tree was finished at the firehouse. He loved a party. His wife – who he met in high school – called him charming and “larger than life.” She said he would go person-to-person at parties to ask people if they were having a good time and was there anything he could bring them. One of the most senior men in Squad 41, Hamilton, 43, stood about 6’ tall with broad, muscular shoulders. He left behind a son and daughter, 12 and 8.
Thomas Cullen III was studying for his Lieutenant’s exam. Studying was nothing new to him. He was constantly reading up about all sorts of firefighting rescue techniques like confined rescue. He studied the structure of buildings he didn’t know well to make himself familiar with their peculiarities. When an undergraduate, he applied for the law boards and the firefighter exam at the same time. He came from a family of lawyers but dreamed most of being a firefighter. He aced the FDNY exam but still had to wait four years for a slot on the force. This 31-year-old firefighter left behind a two-year-old son and a model train set on the living room floor that they played with together almost nightly. Many nights after his son went to sleep Cullen would add a turn or bridge or something new to the set.
Lt. Michael Healey met his wife when they were both teenagers. This 18-year FDNY veteran ran long distance races and coached lacrosse, but also apparently loved to clean things around the house. This extended to the firehouse as well where all those chores are shared. When he became a Lieutenant in 1997, he had to be reminded to not change the sheets or wash the dishes any more because Lieutenants have too much paperwork. His wife wrote that on 9/11, he wouldn’t have wanted to be anywhere but at Ground Zero. “That’s what he did. ‘That’s our job’ he would have said.” Lt. Healey, 42, left behind three children.
Lt. Robert Nagel, 58, hated commercial TV. His wife said he wouldn’t watch any channel below 13 (which is PBS in NYC). He loved the History Channel, old black and white movies, and almost any kind of science fiction. There were hundreds of sci-fi books around the Manhattan home he shared with this wife and daughter. Nagel had 28 years on the FDNY. He was the only member of Engine 58 to die at the WTC, and the 84th and last member of Division 3 to be listed in these posts.
Here is the story written about Lt. Robert Nagel told in “WTC: In Their Own Words” by Firehouse Magazine. In it, FF John Wilson of Engine 58 recounts the following:
Nagel survived the collapse of the South Tower as did the seven other members of E58. But Nagel was trapped under and behind a wall of debris in the Tall Ships bar on the ground floor of the Marriott hotel on the SW corner of the South Tower. Although he was out of sight, they were talking to him and managed to pass him water through the debris which consisted of aluminum studs and BMX cable. He asked where the men were and were they all safe. He “seemed annoyed that he was stuck and couldn’t do anything.” They got a Sawzall to cut through the debris to rescue him. They had tied off a rope to a column and passed it through to Nagel. Then they heard another rumble. It was the North Tower coming down. After several minutes, when it was over, they “found the rope ended at the wall of debris…. it just ended… We followed the rope from the pillar to where it was originally placed. Now there was another 20-30 feet of debris” between them and where Nagel had been. The men of Engine 58 worked until 9pm and began again at that spot the next morning. “Finally one day we were digging and removed all the debris and hit the floor. The floor just ended. The concrete was cracked off. Nagel was gone. He could have been 10 levels down. That was a bad day. We never found him.”
These are terrible stories, I know. And I believe it’s also terrible that we only have these stories about a small number of all those lost that day. These stories depend on survivors to tell them. I am grateful for those survivors, and send blessings along to them for the work they did and the burdens they bear.
Battalion 12 at Third Avenue & East 134th in Manhattan is now at the corner of B.C. Fred Scheffold Place and Joseph B.C. Marchbanks Way.
Scheffold,57, had a 32 year career with the FDNY. At home his creative side came out, and his paintings and sculptures have pride of place in his family’s house and yard. He called himself a “news junkie,” was a voracious reader of the news and happy to enter into discussions on almost any topic. Reports place both men in the lobby of Tower 2 helping to successfully direct both firefighters and civilians to safety just before the building came down on them.
Fred Scheffold was going off duty and Joseph Marchbanks, Jr. was coming on to relieve him the morning of September 11th. Instead, both Battalion Chiefs traveled together to the WTC to lend their expertise to the rescue efforts.
Joseph Marchbanks, Jr. of Battalion 12 in East Harlem was 47 and had a twin brother. He was a 22-year veteran of the FDNY who was always happy to tutor others when they were preparing for promotions exams. He also coached his 13-year-old daughter’s softball team and never missed a soccer or baseball game is 8-year-old son played.
At the beginning of his career Marchbanks took the tests for the FDNY and the NYPD. Both departments came back with offers on the same day. He chose a career as a firefighter and never looked back.
Firefighter Paul Ruback, 50, and his wife took in many foster children over the years and adopted three of them, expanding their family to six children.
“Too tall Paul” was the nickname for this 6’6″ firefighter around Engine 25. At home he was “Paulie” and beloved for his sympathetic ear and calming manner.
Mayor Bloomberg delivered the eulogy for this “gentle giant” when he was laid to rest in the spring of 2002 in Newburg, NY where he lived. Quoting “Julius Caesar, Bloomberg said, “His life was gentle and the elements so mixed in him that nature might stand up and say to all of the world, ‘This was a man,'” ”Paul Ruback was such a man,” said the mayor.
When he was a kid, Firefighter Joseph Rivelli would enlist neighborhood kids to set pretend fires so he could pretend to put them out. He loved his job. At 43, however, he was only two years from retirement after 20 years on the force. He was learning to fly and considering becoming a commercial pilot for his next career.
Robert James Minara graduated summa cum laude from John Jay College of Criminal Justice when he was 50. That was 21 years into a 25-year career with Ladder 25 and sixteen years into his career as the safety and security supervisor of St. Vincent’s Hospital in Harrison, NY. During the Vietnam war he was in the Navy aboard the USS Boston. He received the National Defense Service Medal, three Bronze Stars, a combat action ribbon and two more medals. Although the reference picture I used to paint his portrait shows him with dark hair, I believe it had turned snowy white by 9/11.
To LEAVE A MEMORY or COMMENT about any of these men, go to their painting in THE 343 section. Double click on the painting and it will enlarge. Scroll down and leave a message. These comments will stay with the paintings as long as this website exists.
One FIREFIGHTER painting and a short STORY about him are posted every day, in order by company: facebook.com/betterangels911/
