Christian Engeldrum, RIP

Chris Engeldrum joined the Army in 1986 and served as a paratrooper in the Gulf War. In civilian life he joined the New York Police Department in 1997, then the New York Fire Department two years later. Engeldrum rushed to Ground Zero with Ladder Company 61 of the New York Fire Department on 9/11, after the first of the Twin Towers had fallen. He later helped to raise the flag at Ground Zero on a lamppost. In May he was called to active duty with the Army National Guard.
On Monday he was killed by terrorists who detonated a car bomb outside Baghdad, the day that the youngest of his two sons turned 16. The New York Post story on Sgt. Engeldrum’s life and death demands attention: “Firefighters lose another 9/11 hero — this time in the Iraq war.” The New York Times story adds many painful details: “2 New York firefighters killed in Iraq.”

The caption on the New York Times photo by Shannon Stapleton reads: “Firefighters from Engine Company 66 and Ladder Company 61 hung bunting yesterday outside the firehouse in the Bronx where Christian Engeldrum served.”