Thousands of firefighters gathered in Boston this week for the funerals of two comrades killed in a conflagration that gutted a small apartment building.
Lt. Edward Walsh was buried Wednesday, after a funeral mass at St. Patrick's Church in Watertown. He was baptized there more than 40 years ago.
Firefighter Michael Kennedy's funeral was scheduled for Thursday morning at Holy Name Church in West Roxbury.
About 10,000 firefighters lined the streets outside St. Patrick's during Walsh's funeral. About 650 people filled the church, including Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, Boston Mayor Martin Walsh, former Mayor Thomas Menino and Cardinal Sean O'Malley.
“Ed Walsh was carried in his mother’s arms into this church of St. Patrick for the first time as a 1-month-old baby,” the Rev. Robert Casey, a chaplain with the Boston Fire Department, said in a eulogy. “This morning, Lieutenant Ed Walsh was carried into this church in the arms of his fellow firefighters.”
On Tuesday, during Walsh's wake, his wedding ring was returned to his wife, Kristen, after firefighters who worked with him spent hours sifting debris to find it.
