thedrifter
11-10-06, 07:26 AM
Hub’s bravest doing double duty overseas
By Michele McPhee/ The Beat
Boston Herald Police Bureau Chief
Friday, November 10, 2006 - Updated: 06:49 AM EST
Just weeks before Terrence Burke would lose his right lower leg in a bomb blast in Fallujah, the rookie BPD officer had already been dubbed a hero and “all heart” by the Marines of Weapons Company, 1st Battalion, 25th Marines - not an easy feat in a unit that includes four Boston cops and several city firefighters, men generally leery of “hero” tags.
But Burke deserved the accolades. Before he nearly lost his own life in September, he saved a Marine.
Fellow cop Mike Brown - one of three BPD officers who served with Burke in Iraq - recalled the incident yesterday. Fallujah, Brown said, is dotted with wet, dirty ditches, primarily used as roadside toilets. During one mission, the Humvee Burke was traveling in with his men flipped and landed in the filthy water, pinning an unconscious gunner in the submerged vehicle.
“Burkie realized he was a man down. He was banged up from the accident but he dove into the muck, looked for the gunny, and pulled the guy out,” Brown said. “A lot of guys really, really remember that.”
We should all be remembering stories like this today.
Tomorrow is Veterans Day, the third since Americans began fighting the controversial war in Iraq. Right now, there are six active-duty BPD officers and 10 Boston firefighters serving overseas.
Burke is recovering in an out-patient program at a Texas hospital, his older brother Tom said yesterday. He is preparing to be fitted for a prosthetic leg.
“It’s shocking how fast he is coming back based on his injuries,” Tom Burke said. “Between the cops and the Marines, he’s got plenty of people rooting him on.”
One of those people is Brian Fountaine, the son of Rescue 2 Co. firefighter Paul Fountaine.
The 24-year-old Army sergeant, one of the youngest tank commanders in Iraq, lost both of his lower legs in June when the Humvee he was traveling in rolled over a pressure plate, triggering blasts from two buried bombs.
Fountaine was blown out of the truck and came-to face-down in the dirt, with searing pain ripping through his body.
His legs were bloody stumps. But Fountaine insisted he would walk again. It is a promise that he has now fulfilled, using his prosthetic legs for daily jaunts around the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, his father said yesterday. He is still determined to follow his father into the BFD.
“Brian’s walking,” Paul Fountaine said. “He’s doing great.”
Obviously, many Massachusetts families will be in mourning tomorrow, remembering loved ones who made the supreme sacrifice rather than celebrating the minor victories like learning to walk on prosthetics.
And veterans like Brown and his fellow cops, Danny McMorrow and Mike Fayles, who was also wounded, will spend the day thinking about the 11 Marines from their unit who did not come home and others still fighting in Iraq.
“People need to realize there is still a war going on over there,” said McMorrow, 43, a father of four who is a cop with the elite Youth Violence Strike Force. “People are not as observant to the veterans that continue to do the job over there.”
After spending months training Iraqi security forces, McMorrow is preparing to return to the gang unit this month and start pulling guns off the streets of Boston.
Fayles continues his recovery from his injuries. Brown will be hitting the streets of District B-3 in Dorchester and Mattapan and “can’t wait to get back to work.”
I’m sure the citizens of Boston can’t wait to have Brown, and other veterans like him, who have proven their dedication not only to their country, but to their city.
Ellie
By Michele McPhee/ The Beat
Boston Herald Police Bureau Chief
Friday, November 10, 2006 - Updated: 06:49 AM EST
Just weeks before Terrence Burke would lose his right lower leg in a bomb blast in Fallujah, the rookie BPD officer had already been dubbed a hero and “all heart” by the Marines of Weapons Company, 1st Battalion, 25th Marines - not an easy feat in a unit that includes four Boston cops and several city firefighters, men generally leery of “hero” tags.
But Burke deserved the accolades. Before he nearly lost his own life in September, he saved a Marine.
Fellow cop Mike Brown - one of three BPD officers who served with Burke in Iraq - recalled the incident yesterday. Fallujah, Brown said, is dotted with wet, dirty ditches, primarily used as roadside toilets. During one mission, the Humvee Burke was traveling in with his men flipped and landed in the filthy water, pinning an unconscious gunner in the submerged vehicle.
“Burkie realized he was a man down. He was banged up from the accident but he dove into the muck, looked for the gunny, and pulled the guy out,” Brown said. “A lot of guys really, really remember that.”
We should all be remembering stories like this today.
Tomorrow is Veterans Day, the third since Americans began fighting the controversial war in Iraq. Right now, there are six active-duty BPD officers and 10 Boston firefighters serving overseas.
Burke is recovering in an out-patient program at a Texas hospital, his older brother Tom said yesterday. He is preparing to be fitted for a prosthetic leg.
“It’s shocking how fast he is coming back based on his injuries,” Tom Burke said. “Between the cops and the Marines, he’s got plenty of people rooting him on.”
One of those people is Brian Fountaine, the son of Rescue 2 Co. firefighter Paul Fountaine.
The 24-year-old Army sergeant, one of the youngest tank commanders in Iraq, lost both of his lower legs in June when the Humvee he was traveling in rolled over a pressure plate, triggering blasts from two buried bombs.
Fountaine was blown out of the truck and came-to face-down in the dirt, with searing pain ripping through his body.
His legs were bloody stumps. But Fountaine insisted he would walk again. It is a promise that he has now fulfilled, using his prosthetic legs for daily jaunts around the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, his father said yesterday. He is still determined to follow his father into the BFD.
“Brian’s walking,” Paul Fountaine said. “He’s doing great.”
Obviously, many Massachusetts families will be in mourning tomorrow, remembering loved ones who made the supreme sacrifice rather than celebrating the minor victories like learning to walk on prosthetics.
And veterans like Brown and his fellow cops, Danny McMorrow and Mike Fayles, who was also wounded, will spend the day thinking about the 11 Marines from their unit who did not come home and others still fighting in Iraq.
“People need to realize there is still a war going on over there,” said McMorrow, 43, a father of four who is a cop with the elite Youth Violence Strike Force. “People are not as observant to the veterans that continue to do the job over there.”
After spending months training Iraqi security forces, McMorrow is preparing to return to the gang unit this month and start pulling guns off the streets of Boston.
Fayles continues his recovery from his injuries. Brown will be hitting the streets of District B-3 in Dorchester and Mattapan and “can’t wait to get back to work.”
I’m sure the citizens of Boston can’t wait to have Brown, and other veterans like him, who have proven their dedication not only to their country, but to their city.
Ellie