Time for a Get Together

Progress Report Number 1:

What a GREAT Get Together !!!

Today is Squad 288/Haz Mat 1 in the morning. Then Engine 316/Hose Wagon and Rescue 4. Later back to Maggie Mays.

Tomorrow - Fire Musuem and later the Intrepid with FDNY demonstration.

New York City and the FDNY is TOP SHELF. No doubt about that.

Additional information to follow.
 
memory master said:
"City-Wide to nfd2004, progress report 2 is due." ;)
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  Progress Report number 2 and FINAL progress report on the 2014 Get Together.

  Most events were attended by the following members:
    Tom E. "G-man"
    Bill J. "Parkave32"
    Elwood E. "CFDMarshall"
    Ken S. (poss future member)
    Joe M. "mack"
    Frank D. "fdce54"
    Declan B. "Irish"
    Steve E. "fltpara16"
    Willy D. "NFD2004"

  A Great time for all. Put together by site members Joe M., "mack", Retired Chief Jack K., "68jk09", FDNY Lt Tom B., "tbendick". They sure didn't let us down.

  At this point, let me just PROUDLY say at this time, UNOFFICIALLY, for our two fund raisers of both The Wounded Warriors Fund and the Elasser Fund, the members of our group have donated over $400.00 to be divided equally between the two funds. The funds were collected in appreciation for all that the members of the FDNY did for us. So on behalf of the ENTIRE GROUP "we say THANK YOU". You treated us great. It's been an honor to meet you.

  Also very special thanks to the members of the Great Neck Vilagent Volunteer Fire Department who presented us with an excellent drill given by a very young Lt., who hopes to someday be a member of the FDNY. The drill involved entering a room from an aerial ladder and the operations of a saw cutting through plywood nailed down on pallets. Many younger members involved. They later invited us to join them for dinner after the drill. We saw for ourselves a young generation who is willing to work and help their neighbors, rather than be a burden to them. Some really good kids. After we left, everyone of us remarked how great that drill was run.

  On Thursday morning we were given a tour of the FDNY Fire Academy by Lt Tom Bendick, John Bendick, and a member from Engine 79, who I believe is assigned to the academy due to an injury. It started with a tour inside of the main building. A display of some antique fire apparatus and equipment, an antique watch desk, photos of the members lost on 9/11 and helmets from members killed while in active military duty.

  We then went outside during some beautiful weather. There were numerous Probie classes going on. Some getting ready to do their daily exercises. I believe we were told that Probie Class is now 18 weeks. We saw what is referred to as "Sesame St" where various types of training goes on. A new addition to the "Rock" is a subway tunnel and platform area. Our tour guides gave us a lot of information on how incidents within the miles of subway tracks throughout the city is handled. It is included as all part of the training for the members of the FDNY. We watched new Probies stretching their lines into training buildings full of smoke. All actual hands on training. In addition there is also a new area set up designed to deal with ship fires. I find it difficult to believe that there is ANY OTHER Fire Academy in the WORLD that comes close to comparing it to.

  Thursday afternoon it was over to Queens Engine 287, Ladder 136 and Battalion 46 quarters. Within minutes of our arrival, these companies went out on a run. Not much time to get to know each other for this one. Retired Chief Jack K "68jk09" had set up this visit for us. He spent many years as chief in the 46. He is very well respected by the members of that firehouse. When the companies came back to quarters, we talked to the members about the job and it was very easy to see, that this is a firehouse that everybody there enjoys doing what they do best. We were invited to join the members for their meal and what a meal it was. Each member was involved in cooking or preparing this meal. While we ate lunch with these members, we asked questions and they told us about their job. Shortly after, another run came in and the companies once again left quarters. During that time, the Deputy Chief of the 14th Division stopped by and said that he wanted to meet us. He told us how he worked as a Battalion Chief in Midtown Manhattan and how much he enjoyed doing it. He also said he is being assigned to the 7th Division next week.  The companies came back and a few members, and the Chief of the 46 asked to get a picture of all of us together. That picture has since been forward to me by Chief Jack K., and I plan to forward it to the members of our group. Maybe one of the guys knows how to post it.

              TO BE CONTINUED; Coming up, "Maggie Mays", Squad 288/Haz Mat 1, Rescue 4/Engine 316, The Fire Museum. 
 
Attempting to post a few pictures from "Get Together 2014"  but my Mac will not load them.  Any suggestions?
 
Sending them to my work PC now and will post them from there?the Apple products won't post pictures from the Big Apple...
 


The Get Together 2014 crew at E287/L136 and the 46 Battalion, the "Elmhurst Eagles". With "guitarman314", "IRISH", "fdce54", "mack", "fltpara16","nfd2004", "Parkave32","CFDMarshal", Ken S., the Chief of the 46 Battalion and several members of E287/L136.
 


At the Command Post; Maggie Mays in Bayside, Queens with Chief JK.  Thanks Chief for the Brotherhood and all the help in making Get Together 2014 a success! With "fltpara16", "68jk09","IRISH", "nfd2004", "fdce54","CFDMarshal"
 


The Incident Commander for Get Together 2014, "Willy D", getting some advice from Chief JK and Bob G. of Rescue 2
 
Thanks for the video, Bill.

Bob Galione, Rescue 2(Ret.) is also featured prominently in the Tom Downey novel, The Last Men Out.

He's also featured in the documentary "Still Riding: Rescue Company New York City".

Here's a video of R2 from "Still Riding". Bob G. comes in at the 01:04 mark.

Rescue 2 from "Still Riding"

9/11 from "Still Riding":

9-11 From "Still Riding"
 
Bill - Thanks for all you did organizing this event.  It was great.  You are a special guy and made this event fun and successful.   

Special thanks to Chief Jack Kleehaas, Lt Tom Bendick (his father Captain John Bendick and brother John Bendick) for all they did to coordinate our itinerary.

Thanks to all FDNY members - the FDNY Fire Academy staff, Division 14, Battalion 46, Engine 237, Ladder 136, Squad 288, Hazmat 1, Engine 316, Rescue 4 and the Fire Museum who welcomed us wherever we went.  They are all terrific people, we enjoyed their company and learned a lot from them.

Thanks to the Great Neck Vigilant Engine and Hook and Ladder Company for their warm hospitality.  They are an impressive organization and serve their town well.

Thanks to Maggie Mae's in Bayside, Gary the bartender, and the rest of the staff for their good food and friendly service, and to all the retired FDNY members who shared a great night with us.

Thanks to the Anchor Inn staff for their efficient service and complying with our requests for harassing 5:00 wake-up calls to Bill and Frank.

Thanks to White Castle for a special taste of NYC.  And my thanks and apology to anyone else I forgot to mention who helped us.

Thanks to all members of this who participated - Steve, Frank, Tom, Dec, Ken, Bill, Elwood - who were appreciative and generous guests, and who contributed with their own firefighting stories and support to our Wounded Warriors.

And finally, thanks again to Bill (Willy D).  Your stories from your days on the job in Connecticut and buffing the War Years were captivating.  But most of all, we will forever remember one story - your lengthy and detailed account of your escape from a smoky CT warehouse fire, narrated in detail as we ate dinner with the firefighters of the Great Neck Fire Department.

We sat on the edge of our seats as you recalled in detail escaping in the dark by breaking through a concrete wall with your Halligan and then crawling into, and through, a dog pen loaded with Pitbull dog excrement.  You recounted, during our meal, every inch of the way through the dog feces.  You described how you were covered from head to toe with Pitbull dog waste.  Everyone was glad that you even described what you and your gear smelled like, coated with dog poop. 

We were glad all the young firefighters around the table lost interest in eating their pizza during your story, because there were more slices of pizza for us.  Too bad a few of them got sick, it is good for their development.  Everyone was impressed that you even wore the same sweatshirt during our trip that you wore that night in the Pitbull dog pen. The Great Neck firefighters all said you made a great impression and would never forget the image of you covered in Pitbull poop. 

Neither will we. 

And finally, and sincerely, thank you Bill, and thank you Chief Kellhaas for all you both did.

We already look forward to our next get together and hope more of us can participate.  It was great!



 
Thank you "fdny1075k" for posting those two videos which included Retired Rescue 2 Firefighter Bob G.

Wow, it's really pretty heavy trying to post something about such a great time after watching that "Still Riding" video. In our visit to Squad 288/Haz Mat 1 we heard what it was like trying to piece together a department that was torn apart in the days following 9/11. But for now, I'd like to take a step back to our Get Together, 2014 on Thursday evening after the tours of The Rock and Engine 285/Ladder 136 and Battalion 46. It had been a GREAT DAY. Thanks to Lt Tommy Bendick, John Bendick jr., and Retired Chief Jack Kleehaas.

  I had been to Maggie Mays about a month earlier to meet Chief Kleehaas. It looked like a great place for the guys in our tour to meet up on one of the evenings. So the plan was to meet there on Thursday October 9th and that Chief Kleehaas, "68jk09", might have a few other FDNY members join us. I was also told by Retired Captain John Bendick, Lt Bendicks (site owners) father, that he would also join us. I had found out that Captain Bendick and Chief Kleehaas attended the same Probie Class together in 1968, but hadn't seen each other since then. So it would be a reunion for these two FDNY War Years firefighters, who spent their entire careers in some of the busiest companies throughout the City.

  In addition to these War Years Firefighters, We would also meet Firefighter Bob Galione, Retired Rescue 2, and another War Years Firefighter named Ken Burbalack, who had worked the very busy Engine Company 94 during that time. In addition present was Active FDNY Firefighter Marc D., of Engine Co 46. I had talked to him previously through PMs here, but never met him. So for me, that was something special. And for several years during those busy War Years, some of us would hang out across the street from the very busy Engine 46/Ladder 27 and the doors of the firehouse were open to us if we needed anything. We were also honored by a visit to our group by Chief of Department Edward Kilduff. Chief Kilduff is highly respected by both the active and retired FDNY members of the Department and those that were there. That was certainly a surprise to all of us. As I understand it, site member *******, Retired Chief M., was also invited but was not able to make it. In the "My Younger Buff Years" thread, he was the Captain of Engine 82 when the book "Report from Engine 82" was first published and he related several stories to us on that thread.

  We were also honored to have with us that night, Honorary Assistant FDNY Chief Harvey Eisner, former Editor-in-Chief of Firehouse Magazine. Harvey and I hung out together as buffs of Engine 82/Ladder 31 back in the days when The South Bronx was "The Arson Capital of the World". We talked about how we would stop in at Angies Market across the street from the firehouse to buy a few goodies. Angies Market, one of the few businesses to survive in the area, probably because of the FDNY members and the buffs. A few years later we lost touch. Then sometime in the mid 80s, Harvey spent the day with us at the Norwich (CT) Fire Department. He was writing a story for Firehouse Magazine about a fire we had then. He spent the day with us and was allowed to ride our Ladder truck, a 1979 American LaFrance Tiller. At Maggie Mays, Harvey brought with him a scrape book of some of his most famous pictures, some making the front pages of the NY Daily News. One in particular I remember he had was a blind person on a fire escape with an FDNY member by his side after exiting the upper floor burning apartment. I was also told by Retired member Ken B., that during his days with Engine 94, Harvey would donate many 8 x 10 photos to the firehouse to be displayed. Harvey also wrote a book on 9/11 and I believe he will be writing another book soon.

  I think site member "fltpara16", Steve E., put it best. I think Maggie Mays should be designated our Primary Command Post. It was a great place to meet up and for those that went to the bar area after, they got to meet a professional bar tender named Gary. He treated us well and the food we had was great.

  I also understand that our good friend "mikeindabronk", got an invitation by Chief JK to join us, but wasn't able to make it.

  P.S., I wondered why Frank and I got a WAKE UP call at 5 AM.? I didn't remember asking for one. Yes, I answered the phone, while Frank snored up a storm and never knew anything about it. So Frank, you missed your 5 AM wake up call, requested by your friend "mack". As I remember correctly, that was the night that you came dragging yourself into the hotel room from a night of partying with rest of those guys. I told everybody to go back to the hotel with their Teddy Bears, but nobody listened.

  Also, I noticed you guys were stuffing yourselves with way too much pizza at the Great Neck Firehouse. The guys probably would have gotten sick whether I told the story about the Pit Bulls Poo Poo or they put down too much of that sausage and pepperoni pizza. Those that got sick, "it was going to happen anyway". You just can't throw down pizza like that and think nothing will happen.

  TO BE CONTINUED: "Squad 288/Haz Mat 1, Engine 316/Rescue 4, and The Fire Museum"
 
I'm just glad the only story these guys told on here was about; "The Pit Bull - Poo Poo" story. They didn't tell the story about a young Probationary Firefighter who got himself in a little hot water in New London, Ct. These guys on this tour found out that once the heat lamp is applied, "I will easily fail under the pressure". The story is called "The Pre-Marriage Blues" and it starts off with "bless me Father for I have sinned".

  Another interesting point I'd like to mention about the guys who attended our Get Together. When one of the members of the FDNY found out that we came from many different areas like Ireland, Tennessee, Virginia, Upstate NY in Orange County, and Connecticut, he asked us how did we all meet up. One of the quick thinking Wizards of our group pops up with; "We are all from the same Dating Service". "How embarrassing can that be". At that point, I just wanted to run away and hide.

  So as you can see, our Get Togethers are not just about the fire department. Some of us take abuse, while others just laugh at it. Most of us are pretty much "over the hill" and we talk about our aches and pains, and the medications we take while tipping a few at Maggie Mays. In the meantime, those fine young ladies sitting at the bar seem to be much more interested in another member of our group. A young Irish Laddie, who calls himself, "Irish", than in any of us.

I also understand that in the final hours of our Get Together, site members Elwood E., aka "CFDMarshall", and Frank D., aka "fdce54", traveled back to the Anchor Hotel by train after leaving the FDNY Museum. As I understand it, "CFDMarshall" coming all the way from Tennessee, put on quite a show for those riding a packed train. 

By the way, we did raise the glass in honor of FDNY Dispatcher 102, George Munch, on his retirement.

   
 
nfd2004 said:
I'm just glad the only story these guys told on here was about; "The Pit Bull - Poo Poo" story. They didn't tell the story about a young Probationary Firefighter who got himself in a little hot water in New London, Ct. These guys on this tour found out that once the heat lamp is applied, "I will easily fail under the pressure". The story is called "The Pre-Marriage Blues" and it starts off with "bless me Father for I have sinned".

 
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I liked the "Poo Poo" story best! :D :D :D
 
Frank, I added to the Poo Poo Story above while you were posting. Just go above and check it out, in Reply # 300. You might have a few thoughts to add about your train ride back.
 
nfd2004 said:
Frank, I added to the Poo Poo Story above while you were posting. Just go above and check it out, in Reply # 300. You might have a few thoughts to add about your train ride back.
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I was thoroughly entertained on the train rides back to the motel. Thank you Emmett. 8) 8) 8)
 
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