A city mourns its heroes

By Craig Bacheller

Craig and Mary Bacheller

REMINDER OF HEROISM--Destroyed firetruck towed away. [Photo by Bill Louw]

STATEN ISLAND, New York—The call came into the Foster Avenue engine house in Brooklyn, New York. Staten Island resident Carl Molinaro had just finished his shift and was awaiting his relief. The time was 8:54 a.m., minutes after the first plane smashed into the World Trade Center Tower No. 1.

Carl jumped to duty on Ladder Co. No. 2 of Engine Co. No. 8, of Battalion No. 8. They raced over the Brooklyn Bridge to begin fighting the fire in the North Tower. When Ladder Co. No. 2 arrived on the scene they were assigned to the South Tower or World Trade Center Tower No. 2. Their orders were to go into the basement and begin evacuating the South Tower in case there was to be any collateral damage from the North Tower.

Shortly afterward, Carl was last seen descending into the basement of the South Tower with the rest of Ladder Co. No. 2. That was the last time that anyone saw Carl alive. Carl and Ladder Co. No. 2 of Engine Co. No. 8 of Battalion No. 8 all perished shortly after 9:59 a.m. when the South Tower collapsed.

Carl’s body was not found until Oct. 6. Like many of his fallen comrades, he was carried out on a stretcher draped by the American flag.

I first met Carl when he attended a few classes at a school my wife, Mary, founded to teach college accredited American Sign Language and train sign language interpreters for the deaf. His mother, Joan, is one of our faculty members.

On Friday, Oct. 12, more than 2,000 family, friends, New York’s Bravest and Finest, along with representatives of the governor’s office as well as representatives from Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s office, laid Carl to rest. He was sent off with the greatest of grandeur and honor a grateful city can bestow. The firefighters Fife and Drum Corps led the procession from the funeral home into the church. From the church the corps led the antique Ladder Co. No. 2 truck, which bore Carl’s coffin draped by the firefighters’ flag to the cemetery.

Ladder Co. No. 2 led the way to the largest rescue effort in New York City history. When Carl and his comrades descended seven stories into the basement of the South Tower, they evacuated more than 25,000 people, according to Deputy Borough President James Molinaro during his eulogy of Carl.

Before this grand display of bagpipes, drums, flags and firetrucks honoring one of their fallen, the family had to wait and wonder about the fate of Carl. Donna, Carl’s childhood sweetheart and wife of five years, waited with their children, Sabrina, 3, and Carl Jr., five weeks. Joan and Eugene (Carl’s father) waited in agony. My wife and I spent many an hour with them praying, crying, mourning and hoping.

During this time, Eugene and I shared a special moment. Eugene is a large man with calloused hands. His trade is carpentry. For years he created display cabinets for Cartier Jewelers. Eugene is a man’s man. But he lost his business after it had fallen on hard times.

Eugene was not much of a churchgoer. Joan, however, attends an evangelical church called Gateway Cathedral, pastored by Richard Mercaldo. (I attend prayer summits with him and the rest of the evangelical ministry of New York City. He and his church are members of the National Association of Evangelicals and sat on the board when the WCG was accepted into the organization.)

Eugene and I had developed a special relationship over the past five years. I could relate to his immense pain, not directly, but vicariously, through my father. It was in 1981 that we lost my sister, Terry, to leukemia. The heartache my father experienced lasted for a long time. I believe it was one of the events that led to his acceptance of Jesus Christ, and my officiating at his baptism in 1995.

Eugene and I prayed. I asked him about his relationship with Jesus. He said with tears in his big blue eyes, "We are not on very good terms." I replied that this would be a good time to "mend your fences" with Jesus. We prayed, with tears streaming down our cheeks. We prayed a prayer of recommitment and rededication. After we prayed, he looked at me and said, "When you move to Staten Island, you have to start a church, because I want to be a part of your ministry." I was deeply moved.

I could only think of the song from Lamentations 3 about God’s faithfulness and how it is new every morning. Eugene’s son, Carl, was a Christian. He and Donna worshiped at Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic Church, where he was married and mourned. I can only imagine that Carl’s greatest joy as he lives in the presence and power of Jesus, is that his father Eugene has returned home to Christ through his selfless act of bravery.

Joan, Carl’s mother, said it best: "On Sept. 11, 2001 you marched into that hell only to end up in heaven in the arms of our Lord. My greatest joy is that when my journey rounds that final bend, that you will be there to greet me with our Lord and Savior, Jesus, my son, my son."

If the murder of 6,000 people is what it takes to bring this nation into the power and presence of Jesus, we can only marvel at God’s ability to turn horrific events into powerful moments of spiritual recommitment.

Carl did his duty heroically on Sept. 11. His act of selfless bravery makes us proud and thankful that a man with Christ residing in him, lived as Christ did, giving his life for others. What a powerful testimony to all of us who have him residing in our hearts.

Copyright © Worldwide Church of God, 2001