For Arthur

  I was folding clothes on the bed watching the morning news. Then the phone call from my sister as we watched the events unfold in horror.  We knew some of the responding crews would be old friends and neighbors of our childhood home – but the fate of the  boy next door surprised me.  Arthur was always the scrappy one.. the tough guy who could get himself or you out of a jam, the survivor, sometimes even the savior. This time he gave all.

Photo I took from his brother Bert’s facebook…

The following is a write-up that appeared shortly after 9/11.

By Frank Williams
Staten Island Advance staff writer
Wednesday, 10/10/2001

   This is the street behind my old house, where Arthur grew up.
He would get a chuckle out of this street sign, I think.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Firefighter Arthur T. Barry enjoyed his freedom. The 35-year-old spent much of his youth zooming across the American continent on many road trips, all the way to California.

Last year he took a 10,000-mile motorcycle tour diagonally through Canada to Fairbanks, Alaska, and then returned across the northern United States. It took him about a month to eat all that road.

But Mr. Barry’s triumphant adventures came to a tragic end on Sept. 11. The lifelong resident of Westerleigh, a member of Lower Manhattan’s Ladder Co. 15, was on vacation that day. Mr. Barry, who was a handy mechanic, rode the Staten Island Ferry into the city just to drop off a heavy-duty machine at his firehouse near the South Street Seaport.

Arriving after the company had responded to the attack on the World Trade Center’s Tower 1, he found a friend, Firefighter Eric Olsen, and the two of them walked to the scene of the disaster.
Mr. Barry, who remains among the missing, was last seen entering the first tower that was struck.
His sister, Dr. Patricia A. Barry Cosgrove, and her husband, Dr. John Cosgrove, also responded to the tragic event by administering to the survivors and the rescuers.

Mr. Barry joined the Fire Department in 1993 and was first assigned to Ladder Co. 118 in Brooklyn. He transferred to Ladder Co. 15 a year later. Before the Fire Department, he worked as an elevator mechanic for Advance Elevator, New Brunswick, N.J., and a machine-tool technician for A-1 Machine and Tool Co., Elizabeth, N.J.

A graduate of Blessed Sacrament School, West Brighton, and Susan Wagner High School, he attended New York City Technical College, Manhattan. Mr. Barry was a member of the Fire Department’s Holy Name Society, Emerald Society and Viking Association.

He enjoyed swimming and not only went on road trips, but often flew to many destinations all over the country.  Mr. Barry was a parishioner of Blessed Sacrament R.C. Church, West Brighton. In addition to his sister, Patricia, surviving are his parents, Audriene and Bertrand F.; his brother, Bertrand A., and two more sisters, Dr. Kathleen M. Poss and Clare E. Skarda.

21 thoughts on “For Arthur”

  3. We knew a firefighter too. He was a LI volunteer fireman who happened to be in Brooklyn that day. He heard the call and raced right over to help. He had 5 children. James Amato

    So many people just living their lives.

  5. Karen, I am visiting from Teresa's blog, where the photo of a fireman caught my eye. I am a daughter of an NYFD fireman and proud of it, and a resident of Staten Island.
    This was a very touching tribute. God bless, xo

  7. His bravery and the desire to be where he was needed is the true meaning of hero. To think his whole family were there helping that day… New Yorkers can stand proud this day knowing they gave their all. My heart breaks for for the loss of life, we can never forget.

  12. Tears are in my eyes and an ache in my throat after reading your post.
    When you think that everyone killed that day had a similar story of life cut short and friends left behind, it's almost overwhelming.

  13. Canada morns with you today, God bless them all. It was such a sad day for all the world. I hope the world has learned a lot since then. Your story on Arthur was so touching, he sounds like he was a great guy and a brave firefighter.

  18. So sad that you had to know what it was like to lose someone that you knew and cared for. I just can't imagine all those families and what they still go through today. Such a sad sad day. Thanks to heroes like him that so many others made it though. Prayers to all those who still mourn…

Comments are closed.