Honoring Fallen Hotshots
Saturday two local young men, Grant McKee and Robert Caldwell - cousins who were part of the Granite Mountain Hotshots crew that lost their lives in a wildfire near Prescott, AZ a month ago - were memorialized at a service at St. Andrews Presbyterian Church in Newport Beach.
The service was preceded by a motorcade down Irvine Avenue on the Eastside border between Costa Mesa and Newport Beach - a block from my home. My wife and I discussed just walking that block to view the procession as it passed, but I decided I needed to get a better view, so I drove down to the corner of 15th Street and Irvine Avenue to observe it. She snapped a couple photos as it passed our home.
The photos here are just a few of the images I captured that overcast morning as units from nine fire jurisdictions followed the family vehicles to the church, passing beneath a huge American flag suspended between two ladder trucks as firefighters and police officers gathered to salute those two, brave young men who gave their lives in the service to others.
You can read Jill Cowan's excellent article from the Daily Pilot HERE and see Don Leach's photo gallery adjacent to that article. And, you can also see an excellent series of photos taken by Billy Folsom, recently retired from the City of Costa Mesa and now making a living as an event photographer, at his Facebook page, Dumb Biker Visions, HERE.
Enjoy the rest of my photos and say a prayer for the families of these two young men...
Labels: Granite Mountain Hotshots, Grant McKee, Robert Caldwell
posted by The Pot Stirrer at 7/22/2013 12:22:00 AM
3 Comments:
I feel a huge lump in my throat! This tragedy and your photos bring back memories of another fire-fighter's funeral I attended at Mariners Church a few years back. Literally, thousands of fire fighters and dozens and dozens of fire trucks celebrated the memory of the fallen hero. Police and fire fighters are heroes!!!!
Absolutely Flo. These men risk their lives to protect our homes, property and our lives. We can't begin to thank them.
They are all heroes who risk their lives saving people and their homes.
May their brave souls rest in peace.
We will never forget them.
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