Two sons of firefighters killed on 9/11 are being promoted to FDNY lieutenant this week.
On Tuesday James Dowdell will attain the identical rank as his father, Lt. Kevin Dowdell, who was a 21-year division veteran when he was murdered by terrorists who flew two industrial jets into the Twin Towers on Sept. 11, 2001.
“He liked all the things concerning the firehouse,” Dowdell mentioned of his dad, who died at 46, “and he liked coming residence to his household too.”
The youthful Dowdell had turned 17 on Sept. 10 and was at Xavier Excessive Faculty in Manhattan when the horror unfolded.
He remembers being on lockdown with no details about his dad, a member of Rescue Co. 4 in Queens.
When his mom advised him and his brother Patrick, who was away in school, that she nonetheless hadn’t heard from him the subsequent day, “it wasn’t a very good signal.”
“He’d been concerned in a ton of fires and emergencies, however he at all times discovered time to say, ‘You would possibly see this, however I’m O.Okay.,’” Dowdell, who works at Rescue 2 in Brooklyn, recalled. “We nonetheless held up hope for some time. Each time the door opened, we’d be trying to see if it was him … Hours was days, days was weeks.”
His father’s stays had been by no means recovered. Dowdell, who has two sons and a daughter and lives in Rockaway, is being promoted on his dad’s birthday.
It’s not clear what firehouse he shall be assigned to at this level.
“To get his rank on his birthday, it’s particular,” Dowdell mentioned. “It simply makes it like a full circle second.”
Additionally being promoted to lieutenant is Firefighter John Bergin, whose father John was firefighter with Rescue 5 when he was killed within the assault.
Bergin, who was 9 on the time, works at Ladder 157 in Brooklyn.
“I keep in mind the day we had been advised he wasn’t coming residence,” mentioned Bergin, who had two sisters who had been 6 and 12 on the time. His mother mentioned, “‘Daddy went to work and he’s not coming residence.’”
However the 32-year-old who’s with Ladder 157 and lives in Staten Island by no means misplaced his want to comply with in his father’s footsteps, he mentioned.
“I needed to be a fireman for so long as I can keep in mind,” Bergin mentioned. “From day one, that’s what I needed to do — be a fireman.”
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