The weekend event that the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation (NFFF) so masterfully produces and the one it wishes it had no need to ever do again, culminated Sunday in Emmitsburg, Maryland.
The National Memorial Service took place under warm, sunny skies and over 4000 family members, friends and guests listened as the names of 110 fallen firefighters were read out and a flag and rose were presented to the family or a representative. The number includes 107 who died in the line of duty in 2003, and three from previous years.
NFFF uses this weekend to bring together the families and allows them to be together and address some of their needs. It is a time and place where, as one sister of a fallen firefighter said, she felt comfortable crying openly.
Yet the efforts of the Foundation and USFA focus on a future without an annual plaque unveiling the names of fallen firefighters. United States Fire Administrator R. David Paulison said in his keynote address to the audience, "In the future, a number of the children here today will seek to follow in their mom or dad
