About the FDNY VFW Post 12033

Christian Philip Engeldrum, 39, a Staff Sergeant in the Army National Guard and a dedicated New York City firefighter who rescued survivors from the rubble of the World Trade Center after the September 11 terrorist attacks, made the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq on November 29, 2004. Engeldrum was assigned to the New York Army National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 69th Infantry Regiment, supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. He became the forty-fourth member in the history of the FDNY to be killed while on active military duty in service of his country, underscoring the bravery of fire department veterans. Chris was laid to rest with full military honors on December 10, 2004, at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. A married father of three, Engeldrum died when his Humvee came under attack and was struck by an improvised explosive device outside Baghdad, Iraq. His National Guard convoy was tasked with protecting a bridge from insurgents believed to have fled from the US offensive in Fallujah. Engeldrum served on active duty in the U.S. Army from 1986 to 1991, and he was deployed in support of Operation Desert Storm in 1990 as a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division during the first Gulf War. He began his career with the City of New York as a New York City Police Officer (NYPD) assigned to the 47th Precinct. In 1999, he became a member of the New York City Fire Department (FDNY), serving with Ladder Company 61 in the Bronx. Calling Engeldrum a 'New York hero,' Michael Bloomberg, the city’s mayor, stated, 'There is nothing you can say, other than here is somebody who risked his life every day to protect us on the streets of New York and felt he had an obligation to go overseas and to fight to protect the rest of us. All of us have lost something.'