WORCESTER, MA — During a sermon for Worcester firefighter Jason Menard on Monday at St. John’s Church, the Rev. Walter Riley gave an answer to a very difficult question. Why did Menard lay down his life?
“This is what they do,” Riley said.
Menard, a lieutenant, died last Wednesday after rushing into a burning triple-decker on Stockholm Street to rescue the people trapped inside. When the fire grew too dangerous, Menard turned his attention toward his colleagues. He helped one get down a flight of stairs and helped another get out a window. He gave his life for his friends, Riley said, because that’s the only thing there was for him to do.
“It keeps coming back to that answer: this is what you do,” Riley said.
Perhaps as many as 1,000 firefighters and other mourners from across Massachusetts and beyond came to Worcester Monday to attend the funeral and burial for Menard, the ninth Worcester firefighter to die in the line of duty since 1999.
Firefighters in blue dress uniforms with white gloves, and some in firefighting gear, lined the streets between Union Station and St. John’s Church along Temple Street. Some came from as far away as Washington state and Canada. They stood in the cold and rain and saluted Menard, who was driven to the church on the top of a fire truck.
Traffic was stopped in the Washington Square area for the solemn ceremony. Traditional fife-and-drum players led the procession around the Washington Square rotary and down Grafton Street. Once at St. John’s, pallbearers carried Menard into the church as hundreds of firefighters stood across the street at attention.
After the funeral service, Menard was taken to St. John’s Cemetery, where he was laid to rest.
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