garymacd
01-19-2011, 04:26 PM
For those who did not hear, a Sergeant with the Toronto Police Service was killed last week by a person who stole a snow plow and went on a rampage through town running into the young police officer and killing him. The man was shot several times and taken, with all irony, to the very same hospital where Sgt. Russell was fighting for his life. In another bit of irony, the accused has now been charged with murder of a police officer and was released from the hospital on the day of Sgt. Russell's funeral.
Sgt. Russell had just been promoted to that rank and left a young wife and two-year old son. His father was a police officer as well.
After working nights Monday night, my crew and I got dressed in our dress uniforms, hopped on the GO Train to Toronto on Tuesday morning and marched with other members of the emergency services. In all, about 14,000 police officers, firefighters, paramedics, corrections officers, military personnel and other allied service workers attended and marched from Queen's Park to the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. It was an impressive sight as we marched, completely filling University Avenue. I just wish it had been under different, more happy circumstances.
We stood saluting as the funeral cortege drove past being led by members of the Toronto Police Mounted Unit and the Police Chief's Ceremonial Guard. It was almost a tearful moment when the hearse drove by as I thougth about that poor little two-year old who will never know his father. It got worse as I started thinking about my own daughters, now grown and getting ready to leave home, and my wife. How would they survive if this happened to me?
In all the Line of Duty funerals I have attended, I have never thought about that. I have never even thought about the dangers I face when I face them. To me, and to my brothers and sisters in the fire service, it's just our job. One we love and wouldn't trade for the world; but we rarely think of the dangers. They are just a part of the job.
As I stood at attention saluting, almost in tears, a woman came up behind me - just a passer-by - and whispered in my ear that she appreciated the sacrifice that Sgt. Russell made and all emergency responders make on a daily basis.
Before the service was over, we had to leave so that we could get back on the train and return to work for another night shift. Just another night at the fire hall.
Please take a moment out of your busy day and think quietly about Sgt. Russell, his family and the emergency responders in your community and around the world, and wish them good luck and good health so they may continue doing their quiet, but, oh so vital, service to you and all human kind.
Sgt. Russell had just been promoted to that rank and left a young wife and two-year old son. His father was a police officer as well.
After working nights Monday night, my crew and I got dressed in our dress uniforms, hopped on the GO Train to Toronto on Tuesday morning and marched with other members of the emergency services. In all, about 14,000 police officers, firefighters, paramedics, corrections officers, military personnel and other allied service workers attended and marched from Queen's Park to the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. It was an impressive sight as we marched, completely filling University Avenue. I just wish it had been under different, more happy circumstances.
We stood saluting as the funeral cortege drove past being led by members of the Toronto Police Mounted Unit and the Police Chief's Ceremonial Guard. It was almost a tearful moment when the hearse drove by as I thougth about that poor little two-year old who will never know his father. It got worse as I started thinking about my own daughters, now grown and getting ready to leave home, and my wife. How would they survive if this happened to me?
In all the Line of Duty funerals I have attended, I have never thought about that. I have never even thought about the dangers I face when I face them. To me, and to my brothers and sisters in the fire service, it's just our job. One we love and wouldn't trade for the world; but we rarely think of the dangers. They are just a part of the job.
As I stood at attention saluting, almost in tears, a woman came up behind me - just a passer-by - and whispered in my ear that she appreciated the sacrifice that Sgt. Russell made and all emergency responders make on a daily basis.
Before the service was over, we had to leave so that we could get back on the train and return to work for another night shift. Just another night at the fire hall.
Please take a moment out of your busy day and think quietly about Sgt. Russell, his family and the emergency responders in your community and around the world, and wish them good luck and good health so they may continue doing their quiet, but, oh so vital, service to you and all human kind.