Liam Callahan: Many Citations for
Heroism
Liam
Callahan always made it out of dangerous situations. So
it was fully expected that Mr. Callahan, a Port Authority
police officer, would emerge from the trade center
wreckage -- even if days later.
So his wife, Joan, waited. They were supposed to
celebrate 20 years of marriage on Sept. 12. But his
homecoming was going to be sweeter, a wedding anniversary
combined with a hero's welcome at their home in Rockaway,
N.J., where they were raising four children: Brian, 17;
Bridget, 15; Ellen, 13; and James, 11. Officer Callahan,
however, died in the line of duty.
Police work was the lifeblood of Officer Callahan, 44,
a 22-year police veteran who got at least a half of a
dozen citations for exemplary actions, including a group
citation for "heroic efforts" during the first trade
center bombing in 1993, the police said.
One of his first rescues as a rookie came on Sept. 9,
1982. A distraught 20-year-old man was threatening to
jump from the roof of the Port Authority bus terminal.
"Suddenly, he slid closer to the edge, and I grabbed
him," Officer Callahan told The New York Post that day.
"If I didn't get him then, he would have been gone."
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