Rochester, N.Y. - The large flag was suspended between two ladder trucks as more than a dozen firefighters stood at attention.
At the other side of the building, waiting along the tracks, were family members carrying signs and flags. “Can’t wait to see him,” says Pat Fuehrer about her son, Matt.
The cheering began as the train pulled up, then chaos broke loose when someone noticed Matt had exited from a car 100 years down the tracks. His family yelled, “There he is!” and they all ran.
“All of the sudden there he is and I’m just like we mother’s have radar when our kids come home,” says Pat Fuehrer.
Pat and Jim Fuehrer have another son deployed aboard the USS Laboon now on the coast of Libya. (See related story)
Lance Corporal Fuehrer was deployed as a liaison to help train ground troops in southern Afghanistan. He was over seas for five months but gone from home for a year.
‘This is very overwhelming,” he says about the hugs and kisses from his family. “I’m just glad to be home and see my family and spend time with my family.”
But there would be a second surprise: A salute from his fellow firefighters, some of them from Engine 4 on University Avenue where Matt works.
“Spending his time in the service, keeping us safe, sacrificing his time for family is an incredible thing and I respect him a lot for it,” says Lt. Mike Nix of the RFD.
“We’re a family together too,” says Fuehrer. “I’m surprised that they’re here but on the other hand I’m not. We’re all family.”
