In a heartbreaking moment, a young girl was caught on camera wearing her late firefighter dad’s helmet during his funeral after the hero lost his life protecting the innocent from raging fires.
While young Charlotte O’Dwyer may be too young to comprehend what had happened to her dad Andrew, she will always remember he died a hero.
36-year-old Andrew O’Dwyer and 32-year-old Geoffrey Keaton have tragically died on December 19 after their truck tipped over and slammed into a tree.
During the hardworking man’s funeral, 19-month-old Charlotte honored her father with a big smile as she wore his helmet and clung onto his coffin.
“Charlotte should know her father was a selfless and special man, who only left because he was a hero,” RFS Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said as he addressed family and friends who came to pay their respects to Mr. O’Dwyer who had been serving the Horsley Park RFS for 18 years.
With tears in his eyes, the commissioner decorated the young girl’s dress with an RFS service medal and handed O’Dwyer’s helmet to the firefighter’s grieving wife Melissa.
Soon enough, however, Charlotte asked her mother for the helmet and smiled in front of crying family and friends as she proudly wore it on her head.
As the coffin was loaded onto the hearse and kissed by Melissa and her daughter, hundreds of fellow RFS members lined along the path and placed their palms over their chests.
While Melissa was hit by the harsh reality of her hero husband leaving her alone with her daughter, she now knows that he will never be gone because a part of him lives in their little girl.
“Our kids have got all these aunties and uncles now and that gives me a lot of comfort. They can hear the stories about their dads and how mighty they have been,” Mrs. O’Dwyer previously said.
What are your thoughts on this story? Let us know in the comments and don’t forget to SHARE this post with your family and friends and follow us on Facebook for more news and stories!
Replaced!