thedrifter
03-09-06, 06:51 AM
Heat of war to fires in the city
BY MELISSA GRACE
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Thursday, March 9th, 2006
After two tours of duty in Iraq, Peter Regan will finally get a chance to follow in his father's memory.
The FDNY probie will start battling fires next week out of East Flatbush's Ladder 174, where his dad worked for many years. He died at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.
"It's great; I'll be working with the same guys my father worked with," said Regan, 25, whose story was first reported in the Daily News. "In the same house and the same kitchen.
"You don't want to slip up," the freckled Regan said of the assignment he requested. "It's walking in his footsteps."
It was a dream deferred twice by a patriotic calling.
Regan's first stint in Iraq began in 2003, when the United States first invaded. He served with the Marines for about a year.
Early last year, Regan was called back to Iraq on active duty. Promoted to Marine sergeant, he served as part of a quick reaction force in western Iraq and patrolled the banks of the Euphrates River for weapons caches.
Regan returned from his latest tour in Iraq on Dec. 20, after 11 months at Base Alasad with the 2nd Marine Regiment Infantry.
While he was away, Ladder 174's firefighters - some of whom worked there with his dad - kept an eye on him.
"We were really concerned about him," said Firefighter Walter Blum, 46, who remembered Regan visiting his dad at the Snyder Ave. station as a kid. "It's like your own son is over there in the war."
Donald Regan, 47, was assigned to Rescue 3 in the Bronx when he died. During Peter Regan's second Iraq tour, firefighters from the Brooklyn firehouse sent him care packages of food, T-shirts and magazines.
"They were great while Pete was away," said his mom, Theresa. "They called me once in a while."
His mother - who was not pleased to see him go to Iraq twice - is delighted he's back. "I think his dad would be very proud, too," she said.
Peter Regan, whose military contract remains open until June 2007, said he could be called up a third time.
"If the country needs me," he said, "I'm going to go."
Ellie
BY MELISSA GRACE
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Thursday, March 9th, 2006
After two tours of duty in Iraq, Peter Regan will finally get a chance to follow in his father's memory.
The FDNY probie will start battling fires next week out of East Flatbush's Ladder 174, where his dad worked for many years. He died at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.
"It's great; I'll be working with the same guys my father worked with," said Regan, 25, whose story was first reported in the Daily News. "In the same house and the same kitchen.
"You don't want to slip up," the freckled Regan said of the assignment he requested. "It's walking in his footsteps."
It was a dream deferred twice by a patriotic calling.
Regan's first stint in Iraq began in 2003, when the United States first invaded. He served with the Marines for about a year.
Early last year, Regan was called back to Iraq on active duty. Promoted to Marine sergeant, he served as part of a quick reaction force in western Iraq and patrolled the banks of the Euphrates River for weapons caches.
Regan returned from his latest tour in Iraq on Dec. 20, after 11 months at Base Alasad with the 2nd Marine Regiment Infantry.
While he was away, Ladder 174's firefighters - some of whom worked there with his dad - kept an eye on him.
"We were really concerned about him," said Firefighter Walter Blum, 46, who remembered Regan visiting his dad at the Snyder Ave. station as a kid. "It's like your own son is over there in the war."
Donald Regan, 47, was assigned to Rescue 3 in the Bronx when he died. During Peter Regan's second Iraq tour, firefighters from the Brooklyn firehouse sent him care packages of food, T-shirts and magazines.
"They were great while Pete was away," said his mom, Theresa. "They called me once in a while."
His mother - who was not pleased to see him go to Iraq twice - is delighted he's back. "I think his dad would be very proud, too," she said.
Peter Regan, whose military contract remains open until June 2007, said he could be called up a third time.
"If the country needs me," he said, "I'm going to go."
Ellie