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by WIL CRUZ
Nearly four years after the World Trade Center was attacked and hundreds of emergency responders died, Firefighter Gerard Baptiste Wednesday was laid to rest.
The funeral for the beloved firefighter comes after his remains were identified earlier this year. But the service was like dozens of others that had preceded it in the last few years, a spectacular display of solidarity by a department that lost 343 of its members that fateful day.
Dignitaries and members of the department in dress uniform Wednesday lined the streets in front of St. Patrick's Cathedral, where the funeral was held, as the Emerald Society Bagpipe Band played a number of somber tunes down an eerily quiet Fifth Avenue. A fire truck slowly made its way to the famed church carrying a flag-draped coffin containing Baptiste's remains.
Baptiste, 35, was one of four firefighters from Ladder Co. 9 in the East Village to perish on Sept. 11. He reportedly died on the 33rd floor the north tower attempting to rush people to safety.
"We come today to honor a man who honored us with his service and his sacrifice," said Mayor Michael Bloomberg. "He was driven by an unbridled passion to help others."
A memorial had been held for Baptiste on Nov. 16, 2001. But Lt. Bob LaRocco, who supervised Baptiste at Ladder 9 and eulogized him Wednesday, said he hoped the funeral, however delayed, would help his family take another step toward moving on.
"It's something good to give the family a feeling of closure," he said before the service.
Baptiste, 35, who was born in the Dominican Republic to a Haitian father and a Dominican mother, was by all accounts a dedicated New Yorker, with time spent as a lifeguard for city swimming pools and as a lieutenant for the 69th Infantry of the National Guard before joining the Fire Department. Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta said even though his life was cut short, Baptiste made the most of it.
"His time on this earth, however short, was very full," he said.
After the funeral, which was attended by Cardinal Edward Egan, nine uniformed members of the department carried Baptiste's remains back to the fire engine. "America the Beautiful" played in the background.
Baptiste was buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx.
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