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Bernie McGuire, retired firefighter

BERNIE McGUIRE had his friends baffled. Why did he want to enlist in the Army when he was in college and easily could have avoided the draft?

BERNIE McGUIRE had his friends baffled.

Why did he want to enlist in the Army when he was in college and easily could have avoided the draft?

But Bernie was watching his buddies being drafted, and "he didn't want to be left out," said one of his sons, also Bernie McGuire.

So, in October 1967, he enlisted. After several months in Vietnam, he suffered a serious leg wound and won a Bronze Star for valor for rescuing a buddy under fire.

Bernie's adventurous life was hardly over. After the service, he joined the Philadelphia Fire Department and in 27 years as a firefighter - eventually rising to the rank of lieutenant - he helped fight some of the city's most horrendous fires.

Bernard Joseph McGuire died Sunday of a massive heart attack in his home in Wilmington, Del. He was 61 and had formerly lived in Southwest Philadelphia.

"He loved being a fireman," his son said. "He loved the guys. He loved hanging out with the guys. Nothing beats brotherhood, he used to say."

But the terrible fires he helped fight often sent him back to the horrors of Vietnam, even though he was the kind of guy who rarely talked about his experiences.

But when police opened up with heavy weapons on the barricaded MOVE compound at 6221 Osage Ave. in May 1985, he was jolted back to the battlefields of Vietnam, he told his family.

Police dropped a bomb on the roof of the house, starting a fire that killed 11 MOVE members, including five children, and wiped out a neighborhood.

When three firefighters became disoriented in the upper floors of the burning 38-story One Meridian Plaza at 1414 S. Penn Square on Feb. 23, 1991, and died of smoke inhalation, Bernie's squad had the job of trying to find them in the dense smoke.

The victims had taken a wrong turn, got lost, and ran out of air. Their bodies were found on the 28th floor.

Bernie's company was also involved on Aug. 17, 1975, when eight firefighters were killed and 14 injured in a fire that erupted in the former Gulf Oil Co. refinery in Southwest Philadelphia.

Among the companies Bernie served with over the years were Engine 57, 55th and Chestnut streets; Engine 68, 801 S. 52nd St.; Ladder 14, 26th and York streets, and Engine 27, 1901 Oxford St.

"He was proud of the fact that he always served with busy companies," his son said.

Bernie once suffered burns of the ears in a fire, and was hospitalized with smoke inhalation at one point.

"We went to see him in the hospital and he had a tube in his throat," young Bernie said. "But he jumped up and hugged us when we came in. It was a good moment."

Another good moment came in 2005, when both the elder Bernie and his wife, the former Jean Gormley, graduated with degrees in liberal arts from Neumann College.

"He always wanted to finish his college education," his son said. "So Mom went with him."

Bernie McGuire was born in Philadelphia to Bernard and Mary McGuire. He graduated from West Catholic High School and attended West Chester State University for a couple of years before enlisting.

He served in Vietnam with the storied 101st Airborne Division. He was hit either by a bullet or shrapnel in the left calf during a nighttime operation. It left a nasty scar, but earned him a Purple Heart to go along with his Bronze Star.

After the Army, Bernie worked for a couple of years as a 9-1-1 operator before joining the Fire Department.

He married Jean Gormley on May 5, 1973. Oddly enough, even though they lived only a short distance away from each other in Philly, he met her on New Year's Eve in New York City.

"He was always upbeat," his son said. "He could bring up anybody who was down. He was a fun guy, always cracking jokes. He loved life, his family and his friends. Everything he did was for other people."

Bernie was smitten with his two grandchildren.

"They were all he talked about," his son said. "He had pictures of them everywhere."

Although his death was a shock, since Bernie hadn't been ill, he always said he "couldn't take being sick," his son said. "He hoped he would die before he hit the floor."

Besides his wife and son, he is survived by another son, Brian; a daughter, Bridget Collins; two sisters, Mary and Claire McGovern (they married brothers), and two grandchildren.

Services: Funeral Mass 10:30 a.m. Saturday at St. Barnabas Church, 6300 Buist Ave. Friends may call at 6 p.m. Friday and at 9:15 a.m. Saturday at the church. Burial will be in Ss. Peter & Paul Cemetery, Marple.