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By Priscilla Greear, Staff Writer
PEACHTREE CITY—Firefighter Michael Boyle had just completed a
double shift of 24 hours—covering for someone else—and was talking on
the phone with his fiancée the morning of Sept. 11 when the alarm
signaled fire at the World Trade Center.
He had already changed into civilian clothes, but he and his best
friend grabbed their gear, jumped on the truck and headed for the towers.
Like hundreds of other firemen in New York, Firefighter Boyle made
the quintessential sacrifice Sept. 11, giving up his life to help many others
survive.
“He had been just released from duty. He did what all
firefighters would do,” said his father, James, a retired firefighter.
“He saved a lot of lives and for that we’re forever thankful. That
memory will always be with me. It hurts, but I’m proud of him.”
James Boyle, a 25-year FDNY veteran and two-term president of the
local firefighters union, said 10 men in his son’s firehouse died. Three
survived. Michael Boyle was assigned to Engine 33.
“My son always aspired to be the best firefighter he could
be. He was a very brave firefighter. He had no qualms. He did his best to the
last second of his life. I know he almost made it out,” he said.
Survivors who saw Firefighter Boyle before he died said he had
“no panic. He was pushing people out of the building right until the
building collapsed.”
Honoring a member of the brotherhood, whom they never knew, the
Peachtree City Fire Department gave full honors to Firefighter Boyle at a
memorial Mass Oct. 26 at Holy Trinity Church, where the firefighter’s
sister, Mary Lynch, her husband, Brendan, and their children are
parishioners. Firefighter Boyle lived his entire life in New York and his
family will gather at a Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral there Nov. 5. Like
the majority of those who died, his body has not been recovered.
His father and his mother, Barbara, from Westbury, N.Y., and his
fiancée, Rosemary Kenny, from Manhattan came to Peachtree City for the
Mass. Pastor Father John Walsh presided and parochial vicars Father Kevin Peek
and Father Fabio Sotelo-Peña concelebrated. About 30 Georgia
firefighters, many in fire trucks, came from Peachtree City and fire
departments in DeKalb, Henry, Coweta and Fayette counties. City council members
and the police chief of Peachtree City also attended.
Peki Prince, honor guard commander with Peachtree City FD and a
Holy Trinity parishioner, helped coordinate the program. She said her
department learned about Firefighter Boyle when Mary Lynch gave money to local
firefighters collecting money for New York and started crying as she spoke of
her brother.
The department wanted to get involved in “honoring one of
their own. The support locally has been overwhelming. The firemen really feel a
loss even though it’s up in New York. It’s still a part of a
brotherhood,” she said.
In front of the altar was a fire helmet and photo of Firefighter
Boyle, 37, a fireman of six years. Hanging in the vestibule was an American
flag made by Vivian Sarkis covered with handprints of children from Holy
Trinity preschool, which the Lynch’s daughter, Amanda, attends. They also
have a daughter, Diana.
In his homily, Father Peek thanked family members for the
opportunity to “shower you with our love and condolences,” share in
their grief, and honor all fire and police personnel who risk their lives daily
to protect others and “who often go unnamed, unknown, un-thanked for such
generous commitment.”
Father Peek spoke of how Sept. 11 continues to “stalk us in
so many haunting ways.” The terrorism was an act of pure evil, which was
magnified by the approximately 4,600 deaths caused by the collapsing towers, he
said, but there were also fires of God at Ground Zero that day. He noted there
are more Scripture references of fire describing God’s love and power than
of evil, and how St. Paul said at the end of one’s life one will be tested
and proven, purified and refined for entry into heaven as if through fire.
Those who have built with precious materials will find that gold, silver and
precious stones are not lost in fire but purified, and receive a reward. And it
is through fire, whether literal flames or adversity and struggle, that
character is revealed. “There is no greater victory for man than this,
than to have shared in the revelation and unveiling of the face of God to the
world. To have become so intimately one with the person of Jesus Christ, to
have so perfectly united oneself in the body of Christ and become such a part
of his living temple that we would shine with the brilliance and the glory of
his heavenly kingdom, not just in the life to come but here and now,” he
said. “Though Christ lived this witness day in and day out—never was
it more perfectly and intensely witnessed than when he confronted evil head on
at the cross. Nor is it any different in our own lives, in pursuit and
imitation of his.”
Firefighter Boyle shone with the love of Christ.
“Michael pursued Christ all his life, following him right
into the midst of those buildings. And so did they all, all who entered the
fires of hell that morning with the fire of God burning bright within them,
shining through their very selfless act of love and sacrifice.”
Father Peek quoted from a sermon of Cardinal Edward Egan,
archbishop of New York, about how the firefighters conquered their fears.
“Millions of tons of stone and steel were falling all about
them. Hurricanes of dirt, dust and debris were engulfing them. There was no
light with which to see, there was no air with which to breathe. All the same,
they did what they always did. They guided, they protected, they defended, they
shielded and they rescued . . . If this is not triumph, I do not know what
triumph might be. Triumph over fear. Triumph over caring only for oneself.
Triumph over all that makes us less than what the Lord would have us be.”
That morning they were one in heart with Christ, Father Peek said.
“For those of us who remain behind—we stand at the foot
of the towers and this modern Calvary, with Mary and John, trusting that this
is not the end—that having united himself with the death of Christ,
Michael may experience the oneness with his resurrection.”
During the Eucharist, the congregation sang “On Eagle’s
Wings” and Joseph Haegger, a family friend, sang “Ave Maria.”
Speaking for the family, Brendan Lynch thanked the parish and the
Peachtree City FD for their support. “He’d be so proud to know
everyone has helped his family. Michael also said firemen are all brothers.
This today certainly proves his statement.”
Firemen then led the honor ceremony. Peachtree City Fire Chief
Stony Lohr explained that while strategies change, the fire service mission for
the past 200 years has always been to save lives and protect property. In the
past, he said, a bell was used in firehouses to signify the start of shifts,
fires and the extinguishing of them, and the death of a fireman in the line of
duty. A bell then tolled nine times. Chief Lohr noted that firemen, too,
sometimes break down in tears over the magnitude of the loss. “While we
share in your sorrow, we also share in your hope of life everlasting,” he
said.
He described one inspirational image following Sept. 11 of
firefighters climbing to the top of stairs and being met there by the archangel
Gabriel, reaching heaven’s door. He said he now keeps a picture of
Firefighter Boyle, given to him by Mary Lynch, on his desk. “When I am
feeling down, I look at the photograph and it gives me a renewed sense of
purpose.”
Chief Lohr presented James and Barbara Boyle with a portrait of a
firefighter walking through a circle of fire with an inscription from the
prophet Isaiah: “When thou walkest through fire, thou shall not be burned,
neither shall the flames kindle upon thee.”
“Many people are now calling all firefighters heroes,”
he said. “Most firefighters consider it more accurate to say that we are
aspiring heroes. And we have come here to honor a real hero. Greater love has
no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Michael and
many other firefighters at the World Trade Center have made this ultimate
sacrifice.”
Firefighters folded an American flag and presented it to the
Boyles, after which the silent congregation heard a siren wail and then fade.
The congregation sang “America the Beautiful” and a bagpiper played
“Amazing Grace.”
The parish pre-school director, Janet DiBenedetto, coordinated the
service and said there will be another service with pre-school children
participating.
Mary Lynch “is very, very strong. Obviously when it first
happened she was beyond devastation,” DiBenedetto said. “We were
wanting to do something for somebody that we knew who has really
suffered.”
After the Mass, James Boyle said he was overwhelmed by the
expressions of care shown for his family in Peachtree City. He was in Brooklyn
the morning of Sept. 11 and began walking to the World Trade Center, not
expecting the towers to fall. He was two blocks away when the second tower fell
and was knocked over and “engulfed in dirt.”
“When it collapsed, I sort of had a premonition (Michael) was
in the collapsed building. I searched 15 hours and I prayed, but it wasn’t
to be,” he said. “This tragedy, some good will come out of it, it
will unite the nation and rid the world of terrorism.”
James Boyle called his son a “natural leader.”
“He called the shots, there were no airs about him. I have no
doubt he would have been a future president of the firefighter local union in
New York.”
Mary Lynch said her brother had strong faith, was very friendly
and was close friends with Father Mychal Judge, the FDNY Catholic chaplain who
also died.
“He was always taking care of everybody,” she said.
“He was a great brother, great with my kids.”
Holy Trinity and the entire community have helped her cope.
“I still don’t believe it happened. I feel like
he’s going to walk around the corner,” Lynch said. “It’s
been torture, every day not knowing. For the first three weeks we were just
hoping and hoping we were going to get a phone call.”
Brendan Lynch feels “hurt, confused, angry, sad.”
“One side says take them all out over there. One side says
we’re trying to be a humane world,” he said. “We just hope
he’s in no pain. God is good, God will be with him.”
He offered an example of how his brother-in-law’s “heart
of gold” made the world better. At holidays for several years he and his
younger brother would invite an elderly man in a nursing home to family
gatherings. Firefighter Boyle made sure he left with a tray of food, a beer or
two and “spared him $50 bucks.”
“Michael would make sure he was brought to the house and made
sure he had a family at the time most people don’t think about it.
That’s the kind of heartwarming person he was.”
There are three other Boyle siblings, a brother, James Jr. of New
York City, a brother, Peter of Long Island, N.Y., and a sister, Jean of
Rochester, N.Y.
The family will have a final, shared memorial Mass Nov. 5 at St.
Patrick’s Cathedral in New York. Firefighter Boyle’s best friend,
Firefighter David Arce, also was killed. The families are combining the
services for two of the heroes from Engine 33. |
