If Lt. Edward D'Atri were able to talk to family members one last time, his wife knows just what he'd say.
"The FDNY was in his blood. If Eddie had to pick the circumstances of his death, this would have been his way to go. He'd say that," said his wife, Linda. "The firefighters we knew would always say, 'If I ever went into a burning building, I'd want Eddie behind me,' " she said.
Mr. D'Atri, 38, a member of Squad 1, Brooklyn, was off-duty on the morning of Sept. 11. A courageous decision to report to the scene of the attacks in Lower Manhattan has left him among the thousands of missing victims of the World Trade Center disaster.
Family members said he left his Bay Terrace home around 9 a.m. after he heard about the attacks. A witness saw him going up the staircase in Tower 1 asking where the other firefighters in his squad were located.
Born in Birmingham, Ala., he was brought to Queens as a boy. As a teen-ager he relocated to Graniteville, where he remained until his late 20s. He lived in Willowbrook, Oakwood and Dongan Hills before settling in Bay Terrace in June. Mr. D'Atri began his firefighting career in 1984 when he was just 21 years old. He served in various units in Brooklyn. After his promotion to lieutenant in 1994, he served in Rescue Co. 2 and Rescue Co. 4 before being assigned to Squad 1.
A graduate of Port Richmond High School, where he played on the baseball team, he had planned to enter the nursing program at the College of Staten Island this fall.
In his free time, Mr. D'Atri enjoyed working out and in 1987 his efforts paid off when he was bestowed the body building title of Mr. Staten Island. He also took karate classes and loved to read, particularly books on philosophy, quotes and sayings.
"He was looking for something within himself -- searching in those books for something to make him more at peace," said Mrs. D'Atri.
More than anything else, Mr. D'Atri loved to spend time with his two boys, Anthony, 10, and Michael, 9.
"He was a great father. The boys were his life," added Mrs. D'Atri.
He managed his sons' Great Kills Little League team. He also took his boys on many father-son trips to Point Pleasant, N.J.; Florida; Dorney Park, Allentown, Pa.; Hershey (Pa.) Park; the movies, and bowling. But his boys loved, most of all, when he'd take them to the firehouse and let them sit in the fire truck. "He even let them ride in the truck on real fire calls -- when they weren't too dangerous," his wife noted.
(Staten Island Advance, October 5, 2001)