Honorees

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Year Honored
2016
Honoree
Francis Charles
Agency
Fire Department of New York - Bureau of EMS
Agency City
New York
Agency State
New York
Last Call
8/27/2013
Cause of Death
9/11 Illness
Biography
Francis joined New York City Emergency Medical Service in January 1986 as an EMT. He was assigned to EMS Station 33, which later became FDNY EMS Station 58 in Brooklyn, where he served for his entire career. He knew that there was nothing more rewarding than helping others. He had a fatherly trait and showed all he encountered that he truly cared for them. He was active in his community where he lived. He was a religious man who was known as “Elder Charles” in his congregation at the Emmaus Church. On September 11, 2001 and for many weeks thereafter, he like many of his co-workers, worked at the World Trade Center in an effort to rescue and later recover the bodies of the victims and his coworkers and friends who perished in the attack. He became ill from the toxins he was exposed to during this time and like many workers at Ground Zero.