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In reply to the discussion: Boston firefighters dig through ashes to find fallen comrade's wedding ring [View all]sheshe2
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They are the somber rituals honoring firefighters killed in the line of duty, which are playing out in dramatic succession across Boston right now, reflecting a profession steeped in tradition and a brotherhood accustomed to losing its own, firefighters said.
The customs draw partly on the Irish heritage and military backgrounds that have long suffused firefighting ranks nationally, according to firefighters and historians, and many of the rituals are standardized: the black shroud across the uniform badges, posting of the honor guard, even the seating order at the funeral.
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In the Back Bay Wednesday night, the removal of Walshs body was a profound moment. After a fireball washed over the two firefighters in the ground-level basement at 298 Beacon St., an extraction team removed Kennedy at about 3 p.m. and began chest compressions while rushing him to the hospital, fire officials said. But fire was so intense that firefighters had to leave Walshs body in place for four hours as they tried to extinguish the fire amid a ferocious wind. When the extraction team went back in, the roof was gone, and the compromised walls were in danger of collapsing, a scene imprinted on the memory of Mayor Martin J. Walsh.
I watched the men and women go into that building and retrieve their brother as the top floor of that building lit up, he said. I watched the brave men and women of our Fire Department go into that building and retrieve one of their own.
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Members of Lieutenant Walshs Boylston Street firehouse, Ladder 15 and Engine 33, met the extraction team in back of the building, placed Walshs body in a rescue basket, and draped him with American flags before carrying him down a narrow pathway and over a fence separating the back alley from Storrow Drive below, where an ambulance waited. Dozens of firefighters formed a line along the fence, saluting as Walshs body passed.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/03/28/fire-department-engages-solemn-rituals-mourning-their-its-own/5KQ4O2ktmh06ysLJAiJkAO/story.html