Better Angels

Tag: Battalion Eleven

  • Firefighter Paul Ruback

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    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.

  • Firefighter Joseph Rivelli

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    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.

  • Firefighter Robert Minara

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    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.

  • Firefighter Kenneth Kumpel

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    Firefighter Kenneth Kumpel, 42, was a 10-year veteran of the FDNY. He too had come to the FDNY through the NYPD. This self-taught handyman had built the house he, his wife and sons lived in in Cornwall, NY where he also served on the Cornwall Volunteer Fire Department. Apparently he also was handy in other ways around the firehouse, like setting a bed on empty soda cans so it would sink slowly when the firefighter lay down on it, and switching the hinges on the refrigerator.

    Kumpel posthumously received a promotion to Fire Marshall after 9/11.

  • Firefighter John Collins

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    John Collins decided at 4-years-old that he wanted to be a fireman when he grew up. For some kids, one trip to the firehouse is all it takes. When he was old enough to actually apply there were no openings on the FDNY, so he joined the NYPD and served there for four years first. Once in the FDNY, Ladder 25 on 77th & Amsterdam was his assignment. On September 11th, he was actually on temporary assignment to another firehouse, but when they were called out before he arrived, he hopped on the truck with Ladder 25 and rode in heavy as the 7th man on the truck.

  • Firefighter Matthew Barnes

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    On March 11, 1999, firefighter Matthew Barnes was instrumental in the rescue of two six-week-old babies from the ninth floor of a raging apartment building fire on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. In most circumstances, a 100-foot aerial ladder fully extended is adequate to reach a 9th floor apartment. The high ceilings in this building and a decorative cornice between the 8th and 9th floors left the tip of the latter and Firefighter Barnes swaying in the strong winds about five feet away from the mother trying desperately to hand her baby through the open window. Barnes clipped his safety harness to the top rung, timed his reach to the sway of the ladder and took the baby boy from her arms. The mother shouted for him to hurry so he could come back for the baby’s twin sister. He handed off the baby boy to another firefighter lower down on the ladder and repeated the rescue for the baby girl.
When he was awarded the prestigious Honor Legion Medal in 2000, his captain wrote: “He was in extreme danger as the aerial ladder was at its maximum extension, pointed straight up, in an unsupported position. FF Barnes’ agility and strength were being severely tested.”

    This 11-year veteran left behind three sons with whom he loved to go fishing.

  • Lt. Glenn Perry

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    Lt. Glenn Perry’s father was a retired FDNY Captain. His older brother was on the force; another with the NYPD. Glenn began his uniformed service career with the New York City Police Department in 1982, but he always wanted to be a fireman instead. The hours were better for a father wanting to spend time with his growing family.

    In preparation for the FDNY exam he was seen around a Staten Island Railway station running up and down the stairs with a heavy oxygen canister on his back. He was inducted into the force in 1990. By 1999 he had been promoted to Lieutenant, which led to a stint teaching at the Fire Academy for nine months. After rotating through a series of other firehouses, he landed at Ladder 25, “The Pride of the West Side,” just a few months before 9/11. That morning he spoke briefly with his wife, but their short call was almost drowned out by all the sirens and bells in the background.

  • Firefighter Ruben Correa

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    Ruben Correa, 44, was a 13-year veteran of the FDNY. He was the only member of Engine 74 to not make it home on 9/11. Besides his job and his family, Ruben loved riding his mountain bike and fishing. He and his wife of 21 years had three daughters.

    His fellow firefighter John Breen told the story of Engine 74 arriving on site this way. “Ruben was one of the senior guys and he said, ‘stay close to me. Loosen your coat; don’t overheat.’ Then he said, ‘Look, I’m scared too. We have to put that in the back of our minds.’” 
They were assigned to the 22-story Marriott Hotel which was on the southwest corner of WTC2.

    I will tell the story of the Marriott in the next post.