August 23, 2017 • www.theobserver.com • Vol. CXXX, No. 16 Visit our
BUSINESS DIRECT RY on
COVERING: BELLEVILLE • BLOOMFIELD
Page 26
• EAST NEWARK • HARRISON • KEARNY • LYNDHURST • NORTH ARLINGTON • NUTLEY
THE ULTIMATE SACRIFICE No one knew firefighter gave life in line of duty in 1941 ... until cadets did research By Karen Zautyk kzautyk@theobserver.com KEARNY – his is the story of a hero. A man who fought in two wars and then dedicated two decades to serving and protecting the people of Kearny. He gave his life in that service. Yet, for more than 75 years, he and his ultimate sacrifice were forgotten. That is now being rectified. When the last group of Kearny Fire Department recruits was at the Fire Academy, they and the rest of the cadets were given an assignment by an instructor, Capt. David Hamilton: Research line-of-duty deaths in the department they planned to join. “Every recruit class gets this assignment,” noted Hamilton, who serves with the Nutley Fire Department. “It’s educational, and they can give their report to the families of the firefighters and to the department.” The KFD cadets learned
T
Top photo by Karen Zautyk
TOP PHOTO: The grave for the late Kearny Firefighter Robert Hamilton is in Arlington Cemetery, Kearny, and acknowledges his service in two wars. RIGHT PHOTO: Hamilton’s obituary from 1941 as it appeared in print.
that two members of the township department —Firefighter Emanuel “Manny” Gennace (Dec. 24, 1977) and Capt. Robert E. Ball (Nov. 12, 1973) — had died in the line of duty. They reported same to Hamilton, and he told them, “There was actually a third.” The KFD records officially listed only Ball and Gennace. And the Wall of Honor at KFD headquarters holds citations and photos of just them. So who was the third? The forgotten hero was Firefighter Robert Hamilton, who suffered a fatal heart attack while battling a brush fire in the Kearny meadows on Jan. 13, 1941. He was 61 years old. And he happened to be the brother of Capt. Hamilton’s great-grandfather (also named David Hamilton). Which is why the Nutley officer knew something apparently no one else did. He had heard the story when See HAMILTON, Page 4
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