Lt. Paul Geidel (FDNY, retired)

Into Harms Way contains a small number of the many stories about rescues and heartbreaking tragedies that Paul Geidel was involved in, in his 20 years with the New York City Fire Department. It also reflects on his 43 combat missions in his Douglas B-26 Invader.

From Sandy J. Krigel, Lieutenant Colonel, United States Air Force (retired): I met Paul right after the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center, where he was tryinq to recover his son Gary. I was digging at Ground Zero attempting to find my missing Friends. I had an instant connection to Paul. We both were Firemen, Air Force Aircrew, Fishermen and Clammers. He had my back down at the site, and made sure I stayed safe as I was soon to deploy overseas and fight the War on Terror. He has so many interesting stories. Sit back and enjoy--you're about to embark on amazing adventure.

From John Vigiano, FDNY Rescue (retired): The Rescue company - a unique type of unit that is manned by highly trained and dedicated firefighters and led by hand picked officers. There are only five Rescue units in the city of New York; one in each borough.

In this relatively small community of just over a 125 firefighters, everyone knows the "players", those individuals who have stood out for some reason. Paul Geidel was one of them. His reputation was known to all in the Rescue community for his skill as a firefighter, his positive attitude and of course, his sense of humor.

Paul was a leader and a friend for many years; I am happy to see he finally decided to write something other than a fire report. Good luck my friend.