When two Boston firemen - Lt. Edward J. Walsh Jr. and Firefighter Michael R. Kennedy - perished last week while fighting a devastating blaze in the city’s Back Bay, not far from where I lived during my college years, I was as shocked and saddened as the rest of New England.
In the days that followed, two memories of Boston - one momentous and horrific, the other small and seemingly inconsequential - helped me to appreciate the sacrifices of those men all the more.
The first recollection carried me back in time to June 17, 1972, a week after my June 11 college commencement. On that day, the Hotel Vendome in the Back Bay caught fire and partially collapsed, killing nine Boston firefighters.
I didn’t witness the fire, but I recall the burned out hulk, and the city's grief. In my mind, I still hear the deeply moving rendition of Aaron Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man that the Boston Pops played at their Fourth of July concert that year, in honor of the fallen.
There’s a monument on Commonwealth Avenue in Boston dedicated to those who died that day. I can’t pass it by without pausing to remember.
Fast forward to June 2008.
My wife Liz and I were on a mini-vacation in Boston. As we approached a handsome 19th-century fire station, I noticed that there were T-shirts for sale there. So I bought one.
Emblazoned on the back of the deep-blue shirt are the words Boston Fire Department. On the front is a circular crest identifying the firehouse. The station is located at 941 Boylston St. That’s the home of Ladder 15 and Engine 33. It’s the station from which Walsh and Kennedy answered their last alarm on March 26.
That T-shirt has shrunk and faded over the last six years. I rarely wear it anymore. In fact, I had thought of tossing it. But now I know I’ll never get rid of it.
I didn’t witness the fire, but I recall the burned out hulk, and the city's grief. In my mind, I still hear the deeply moving rendition of Aaron Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man that the Boston Pops played at their Fourth of July concert that year, in honor of the fallen.
There’s a monument on Commonwealth Avenue in Boston dedicated to those who died that day. I can’t pass it by without pausing to remember.
Fast forward to June 2008.
My wife Liz and I were on a mini-vacation in Boston. As we approached a handsome 19th-century fire station, I noticed that there were T-shirts for sale there. So I bought one.
Emblazoned on the back of the deep-blue shirt are the words Boston Fire Department. On the front is a circular crest identifying the firehouse. The station is located at 941 Boylston St. That’s the home of Ladder 15 and Engine 33. It’s the station from which Walsh and Kennedy answered their last alarm on March 26.
That T-shirt has shrunk and faded over the last six years. I rarely wear it anymore. In fact, I had thought of tossing it. But now I know I’ll never get rid of it.
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| Associated Press photo |
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