Exclusive | Sons who followed in footsteps of firefighter fathers killed on 9/11 set for lieutenant promotions
Two sons of firefighters killed on 9/11 are being promoted to FDNY lieutenant this week.On Tuesday James Dowdell will attain the same rank as his father, Lt.
Kevin Dowdell, who was a 21-year department veteran when he was murdered by terrorists who flew two commercial jets into the Twin Towers on Sept.11, 2001.
“He loved everything about the firehouse,” Dowdell said of his dad, who died at 46, “and he loved coming home to his family too.”The younger Dowdell had turned 17 on Sept.10 and was at Xavier High School in Manhattan when the horror unfolded.
He remembers being on lockdown with no information about his dad, a member of Rescue Co.4 in Queens.
When his mother told him and his brother Patrick, who was away at college, that she still hadn’t heard from him the next day, “it wasn’t a good sign.”“He’d been involved in a ton of fires and emergencies, but he always found time to say, ‘You might see this, but I’m O.K.,'” Dowdell, who works at Rescue 2 in Brooklyn, recalled.“We still held up hope for a while.
Every time the door opened, we’d be looking to see if it was him … Hours turned into days, days turned into weeks.”His father’s remains were never recovered.Dowdell, who has two sons and a daughter and lives in Rockaway, is being promoted on his dad’s birthday.
It’s not clear what firehouse he will be assigned to at this point.“To get his rank on his birthday, it’s special,” Dowdell said.“It just makes it like a full circle moment.” Also being promoted to lieutenant is Firefighter John Bergin, whose father John was firefighter with Rescue 5 when he was killed in the attack.
Bergin, who was 9 at the time, works at Ladder 157 in Brooklyn.“I remember the day we were told he wasn’t coming home,” said Bergin, who had two sisters who were 6 and 12 at the time.His mom said, “‘Daddy went to work and he’s not coming home.'”But the 32-year-old who is with Ladder 157 and lives in Staten Island never lost...