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By Erik Holm
STAFF WRITER
September 18, 2001
Seeing the firefighters run past him in lower Manhattan last Tuesday, Capt. Daniel Brethel shouted out a warning.
"Firemen will die here today," he said. "Don't let it be you."
But it was Brethel, 44, who was among those who perished when the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center collapsed. He died when he pulled fellow firefighter Michael Weinberg under a truck as the towers came down. The force of the collapse on the truck crushed them both.
Yesterday, Weinberg's family and firefighters said goodbye at Our Lady of Hope Roman Catholic Church in Middle Village, while Brethel's family and colleagues held a funeral for the decorated 22-year veteran at Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church in North Merrick. Another firefighter, Lt. Glenn Wilkinson, of Bayport, was given a fireman's farewell at his funeral in Blue Point.
Full honor guards met the firefighters' caskets outside each ceremony, as bagpipers played plaintive music.
In North Merrick, trucks' raised ladders formed a passage down Merrick Avenue for Brethel's funeral procession.
The service was held in the same church where Brethel had been baptized, where he had received his first Communion, where he had been married.
But in between those milestones, Brethel spent his childhood days dreaming of becoming a firefighter. His family has a home video of him in a firefighter's hat at age 5, and as a teen he used to follow the East Meadow fire trucks when they went on a call.
Later, Brethel realized his dream, and rose through the ranks. His men called him "Captain Dan."
"I am sure he will be called Captain Dan again when he commands the fallen firefighters who perished on that tragic day," said one of the firefighters, a longtime friend who spoke at his service.
In Middle Village, the neighborhood fell silent as the pipe band played a tune for Weinberg known by its signature line, "Will ye no come back again?" Even the mechanics across the street at a Sunoco station stopped what they were doing to watch as the funeral procession left the church.
Newsday
September 22, 2001
Daniel Brethel, captain of Ladder 24 on West 31st Street in Manhattan, had had some close calls: His neck and ears had been burned when he was holding his helmet over an injured firefighter who was lying on the street; once he had required a skin graft. Arriving at the World Trade Center after both jets had hit, he shouted a warning to his men: "Guys, be very careful, because firemen are going to die today."
He had been off duty at 9 a.m. His wife, Carol, hearing about the attack at their home in Farmingdale, hoped he was already on the train and knew nothing about it. On Tuesday night, they came to the house and told her they had found his body. Captain Brethel, 43, had grabbed one of his men as a building started to collapse. They dived under a firetruck. Both were crushed.
On Wednesday, Ms. Brethel went to her husband's firehouse to empty Captain Brethel's locker. Theirs is a large, close family. In April, all the brothers and sisters and their children, 19 Brethels, went to Disney World, waiting until it was close to closing time so they could ride Thunder Mountain together.
This week, at least a dozen Brethels, including Captain Brethel's children, who are 12 and 14, accompanied his wife to the firehouse. While Ms. Brethel closed the locker room door behind her, the firefighters told stories about their captain and the children had a chance to see the people stopping by and the flowers they had left. And that was good, said Mr. Brethel's sister, Loretta.
NY TIMES
Daniel Brethel
Status: Found
Jurisdiction: Manhattan
Rank: Captain
Agency: FDNY
Unit: Ladder 24
Last Updated: 09/26/2001 01:09 PM
Bio: CAPT. DANIEL BRETHEL, 40, a firefighter with New York Fire Department, was supposed to be off duty the day planes crashed into both towers of the World Trade Center. He died in the collapse of the south tower. ``He died doing what he loved to do,'' said a cousin, Thomas Brethel. ``He's my hero.'' When Thomas Brethel thinks of his cousin, he said he will remember their years as children splashing in swimming pools or playing Wiffle ball. Daniel Brethel is survived by his wife, Carol, and two daughters, Meghan and Kristen.
Funeral Information: Laid to Rest Monday, September 17, 2001
By Ann Givens
Staff Writer
December 29, 2001
There's a home video of Daniel Brethel at age 4, wearing a fire hat that he'd gotten for Christmas, and grinning from ear to ear.
Daniel would build fire stations out of cardboard boxes in his East Meadow living room and push his plastic trucks speedily to make-believe fires in the furniture.
Many little boys dream of becoming firemen. Daniel Brethel followed through.
On Sept. 11, the 43-year-old New York Fire Department captain rushed to the World Trade Center at an hour when he should have been driving home after his shift. As he and his colleagues rushed toward the burning buildings, Brethel shouted out a warning.
"Firemen will die here today," he said. "Don't let it be you."
Minutes later, Brethel himself was dead, crushed by falling debris as the buildings collapsed. His body, found under a fire truck where he and a colleague had dived for cover, was one of the first recovered after the tragedy.
"All he ever wanted to be was a fireman," said Brethel's sister, Elizabeth Domino, of Setauket.
Brethel, who lived in Farmingville with his wife, Carol, and their two daughters, Meghan, 12, and Kristin, 14, always took advantage of time with his family. He knew what his daughters' homework assignments were and when their next orthodontist's appointment would be, Domino said.
"His kids really know him," his sister said. "He was very gentle, a very guiding type of person."
Brethel is also survived by his father, David Brethel of Amityville; his brothers, David Brethel of West Islip, and Bill Brethel of Columbus, Ohio; and another sister, Loretta Brethel Feret of East Meadow.
He was especially involved with his family in the months just before he died, and the people who love him are thankful for that now.
In April, he helped plan a family trip to Disney World with his father, three of his siblings and their children. The family hadn't taken a big group trip in years, and this time they did it up big. They reserved a bank of rooms in a hotel together and spent several days just clowning around in the Florida sun.
Brethel and his daughters would make sure they were the last people to ride the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad roller coaster before the ride shut down each night.
"He was like a big kid," Domino said. "And he loved to see his girls having fun like that."
This fall, just before the kids went back to school, Brethel, his siblings and their children piled into three cars and made their way out to Ohio, where Brethel's brother Bill lives.
It was a long car ride for just a five-day trip, but this time the family decided not to put it off.
"There was no reason to do it other than 'why not?'" Domino said. "Everything just came together so that it could happen. Now it seems like it was sort of meant to be."
Copyright © 2001, NEWSDAY
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