A Man of Action

 

Robert Cordice - FDNY Firefighter

Squad 1 - End of Watch September 11, 2001

Robert Cordice packed a lot of life into twenty-eight years.  Beginning in 1993, he was twenty-one years old and graduated from the NYPD Police Academy, he served the people of New York City for the rest of his life.  

FF Cordice was Officer Cordice for three years.  After graduating from the Academy he was a member of the NYPD from 1994 to October 19, 1997, working in Manhattan out of the 13th Precinct.  From there, he joined the FDNY.  

His first assignment in the FDNY was Ladder Company 102 in Brooklyn, where he spent his first year.  After completing his one-year rotation there, he spent the next year in Manhattan at Engine Company 1.  When that rotation ended, he transferred to Engine Company 152 in Staten Island.    

His best friend, John Deliso, a fellow firefighter spoke glowingly of his friend's craving of action.   He always felt at home in the thick of it.  To assuage that craving, exactly two weeks prior to September 11, 2001 he transferred from Engine Company 152 to Squad 1 in Park Slope, Brooklyn, which is one of the FDNY's elite units.  

FF Cordice was one of the twelve members of Squad 1 to die at the World Trade Center on that terrible Tuesday morning twenty-one Septembers ago.   He was precisely where he wanted to be, doing exactly what he wanted to do, in the company of brothers who shared his passion for protecting and saving others.  

Robert Cordice was survived by his mother, Caroline, his aunt Jo Ann, and his uncle Alphonse.   He was also survived by his inclusion on the FDNY "Calendar of Heroes", posing shirtless atop the bronze bull on Wall Street.   

A man of action, immortalized.   A picture-perfect method of remembrance.  

-AK