Topic: Firefighter saved child 38yrs prior reunites | |
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My brothers and I took my father, Arthur McKee, who has been battling cancer since 1991, up to New York City to see his old fireman buddies and family one last time. While in the city, I thought it would be neat to try to locate a girl mentioned in an article he had in a scrapbook, detailing how in 1970 as a five year old, she was unconscious by smoke in a deadly synagogue fire, and my father stuck with her and rescuscitated her three times bringing her back to life.
It took a lot of research to coordinate from my town of Fort Worth, Texas, but I finally made contact with the family, and we arranged to surprise my father with a reunion of this woman 38 years later. My father had always mentioned that saving lives were part of the job of being a fireman, but little did any of us know the little girl he saved grew up to be a woman with eleven children and a grandchild! Many of them were on-hand at the former site of the fire (where one of the relatives still lives) and the day was, to say the least, very emotional, inspirational, and incredibly awesome. His valiant efforts were celebrated by the many Orthodox Jewish members of that family in a very special way, and it made me very proud to be the son of an FDNY firefighter. (the parents of the victim couldn't make the reunion as they were in London, but one of the video clips features the moment they were able to speak to my father via speakerphone) Even when it's not 9/11, we should all recognize how these firemen selflessly save lives and truly are real heroes |
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