By Leonard Greene
New York Daily News
NEW YORK 鈥� As the FDNY鈥檚 鈥渒eeper of the legacy,鈥� has been to hundreds of department ceremonies, scores of firefighter funerals and nearly two dozen 9/11 anniversary commemorations.
This Thursday will be his last one.
Days after the last victim鈥檚 name is read at the annual 9/11 Ground Zero memorial service in Lower Manhattan, after more than 20 years running the FDNY鈥檚 Ceremonial Unit and more than 35 years in the department.
Later this month, LaPointe turns 65, the mandatory retirement age for the FDNY. He noted that he is retiring a year before 9/11鈥檚 25th anniversary, a ceremony he has been a part of every year.
鈥淚f I had my choice, I would have probably stayed one more year,鈥� LaPointe said. 鈥淚 have a feeling I鈥檒l be there in some kind of capacity.鈥�
As the FDNY鈥檚 longtime master of ceremonies, LaPointe has coordinated everything from department graduations to line of duty funerals.
Never was LaPointe鈥檚 role more sadly on display than in the weeks after the 9/11 terrorist attack in 2001 when of the World Trade Center towers that were struck by hijacked planes.
By LaPointe鈥檚 estimation, there were about 25 funerals a day in the weeks after the city鈥檚 darkest day. LaPointe didn鈥檛 go to all of them, but he went to more than most.
He has been to dozens more since, often planning out the ceremonial details, literally holding survivors鈥� hands from the moment they learn the awful news at a hospital until the dirt hits a casket at a quiet cemetery.
鈥淲e鈥檙e honored to be able to take the worst day of their lives and make it a little better,鈥� LaPointe said. 鈥淚 never said, 鈥極h, we gotta do this again.鈥� This is what we do. The mantra of the fire department is to never forget and always remember. That鈥檚 not just a bumper sticker or a t-shirt. We really mean it. The mayors and the mayor and the fire commissioners come and go, but it鈥檚 up to the members of the FDNY to remember that promise.鈥�
LaPointe said he lost a lot of friends and co-workers on 9/11, but, remarkably, no one from what he considered his inner circle was killed.
He didn鈥檛 suffer that kind of loss until 2008 when died after he became trapped in a smoky blaze at Brooklyn鈥檚 Ebbets Field Apartments.
Martinson, like LaPointe, was a Staten Island native 鈥� and a former cop.
LaPointe said that when he became a firefighter after two years as a correction officer and six years with the NYPD, he had a hard time making the adjustment.
鈥淚 liked being a cop,鈥� said LaPointe, who worked a plainclothes detail driving a yellow cab in Times Square in the 1980s. 鈥淔or a long time I was a cop in a firefighter鈥檚 uniform. Eventually, you make the transition.鈥�
It helped that LaPointe鈥檚 father had been a firefighter.
LaPointe worked his way up the ranks, and in 2001, he was promoted to lieutenant, assigned to Ladder 114 in Sunset Park. He was off duty in Staten Island, where he lives, when he saw the plumes of smoke rising from the Twin Towers. He connected with a local rescue unit and went to Lower Manhattan on a ferry.
鈥淎s we were going over, that鈥檚 when the towers were coming down,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t was total mayhem.鈥�
Since 2007, LaPointe has been the Commanding Officer of the organizing every wake and funeral of all FDNY firefighters & EMS personnel and all those who鈥檝e died from 9/11 related illnesses.
