Firefighter's funeral set for FridayWESLEY HILLS — Fallen firefighter Gregory Sikorsky will be laid to rest on Friday, almost nine months after he died in the World Trade Center collapse. "He's coming home," his brother Perry Sikorsky said yesterday. "That's the important part." Sikorsky, a five-year veteran of the New York Fire Department, was one of six members of Rescue Squad 41 who lost their lives in the collapse of the south tower on Sept. 11. His remains, and those of two of his co-workers, were found in the last weeks of excavation of the rubble, along with rescue tools used to open elevators. It appears the squad members were at the 43rd-floor elevator lobby trying to rescue people trapped in an elevator when the tower collapsed, Perry Sikorsky said yesterday. "It's amazing what the firefighters did," Perry Sikorsky said. He said he believes his brother and others knew they would never come back from the Trade Center, yet they went in willingly to save anyone they could. Sikorsky's funeral on Friday will be at St. Boniface Church in Wesley Hills, the same site where hundreds of Rockland County firefighters gathered just two days after the attack to hold a prayer vigil for Sikorsky, who was a 16-year veteran of the Wesley Hills volunteer fire department. Sikorsky was 34 when he died. In October, after hope faded, a memorial Mass for Sikorsky was said at the church. Perry Sikorsky said there's some relief for the family in that his brother's body was found and can be laid to rest. "If I had my wish, they could find everybody," he said. "I feel for all the people who will never find out" where their loved ones were when they died. For months, his family believed that Greg would never be found, either, he said. Greg Sikorsky's body will be carried to the cemetery in an antique firetruck he loved to work on. He spent the last evening of his life, Sept. 10, painting the frame of the 1939 Mack pumper with his father and friends. His father, brother and friends have restored the truck in his memory, Perry Sikorsky said. Greg Sikorsky's burial will leave his family with the same grief and pride they've felt since his death, Perry Sikorsky said yesterday. "People talk about closure, but I don't know anything about closure," he said. "It never goes away. You don't forget, never. But at least he's coming home." Sikorsky's wake will be from 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday at Wanamaker & Carlough Funeral Home, 177 Route 59, Suffern. A funeral Mass will be held at 10 a.m. Friday at St. Boniface Church, 5 Willow Tree Road, Wesley Hills. Burial will follow in Ascension Cemetery. |
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