February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
FDNY lieutenant Robert Nagel gave his life for his city and his country on September 11, the only member of his Harlem-based unit, Engine Company 58, to perish on that dreadful day.
Lieutenant Nagel’s particular heroism was recorded in Time magazine and also in the book penned by Echo columnist Terry Golway, “So That Others May Live.”
Nagel’s wife, Janet, was school secretary at P.S. 158 on September 11, 2001, and in 2003 the school, which on York Avenue between 77th and 78th streets, unveiled a memorial plaque in its auditorium to the fallen firefighter, a Queens native who was also a Vietnam veteran.
But teacher Doris Meyer, a member of the American Irish Teachers Association, wanted to advance the commemoration of Lt. Nagle’s life and ultimate sacrifice a little more.
“I didn’t think words on a wall were enough for students to understand its significance,” said Meyer.
So, three years after the unveiling, Meyer, aided by a grant from the United Federation of Teachers, began working with her class on a biography of Nagle and also a song, “One Firefighter” which was composed by the kids with the help of singer and P.S. 158 teaching artist-in-residence, Gabriel Donohue.
According to Meyer, there is the possibility that the song may be recorded.
Last year, the street outside Nagel’s firehouse was renamed in his honor.
The book in his memory, “The Hero in Our Hearts,” contains memories the children still carry from when they were in kindergarten, and of a day when their worried parents arrived earlier than usual to take them to the safety of their homes.
“Robert B. Nagel is a man to remember and inspiration to us all,” the now fifth graders write in the book’s foreword.